Well Now They Know
by Katertot1
Summary: A Kristelsa fanfic, with a few other plots on the side! This is my first fanfic... Bear with me, even I don't know what's going to happen next. You have no idea how often I type Elphaba instead of Elsa...
1. Chapter 1

An odd mixture of panic and calm follows them wherever they go. She thinks no one will find them in this room, so that's exactly where they go. The room is pitch black, except for the sliver of light peeking in through the bottom of the door.

"Shh, shh! Do you hear that?" she whispered.

"Um, no. Hear what?"

"Footsteps! Hide, Kristoff, hide!"

A knock on the door, then it opens, letting a flood of light from the hallway enter the room.

"Your Majesty? Queen Elsa, are you in here?"

"Uh, yeah. Um, yes, Hilde. I'm in here," she said nervously.

"Your Highness, what are you doing in the meeting room? And why are the lights off?"

Elsa took a few steps towards the door and turned on the lights. The chubby, elderly woman who had been the palace's maid for as long as Elsa could remember was standing at the door.

"Oh, uh, I was just looking over some papers, and, uh,"

"You look warm, are you feeling alright?" Hilde asked, with concern in her voice.

"Oh, do I? No, yeah, I'm fine. I was just looking over some papers, and I got a little sleepy, so I turned out the lights so I could doze off."

"Of course, Your Highness. I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Why? What's the matter, Hilde?"

"Nothing, Your Majesty. The new maid is here, waiting in the dining room, and I thought you and your sister might want to meet her."

Hilde had been serving the Royal Family since before Elsa was born, and she was finally retiring. A new maid had been hired to take her place, much to Elsa and Anna's contempt.

"Oh, of course! I'll be right down! Thank you, Hilde." Elsa waited until Hilde was a safe distance away before peeking back into the room. "Stay here," she said, as she turned the lights back off and headed to the dining room.

The dining room was at the foot of a brilliant staircase. It was the center of all small social events in the palace, and Elsa and Anna often found themselves sitting in there, for one reason or another.

As Elsa descended the stairs, she saw Hilde sitting at the table with the new maid, a young looking girl with dark brown hair pulled up into a loose bun.

"Oh, here she comes," Hilde said, standing up. The new maid stood also, and Hilde motioned for her to follow her.

Elsa stood at the bottom of the staircase, trying to hide her confusion as Hilde brought the young girl closer.

The poor little thing was noticeably nervous. She held her hands in front of her stomach, twiddling her thumbs. She was trying hard to keep a relaxed expression on her pale face.

"Your Majesty, may I introduce to you, Callan Stromme," Hilde said, motioning to the girl. Callan bowed her head and curtsied. Her knees were so shaky she at first wasn't sure if she could stand up straight again.

"Your Majesty…" Callan said softly. Elsa nodded.

"Now where is your sister?" Hilde asked.

As if she had been waiting for her cue, Anna came running down the stairs, stopping on a dime right beside Elsa. She straightened her dress, and her posture, and tried to look as regal as her sister.

"Ah, here we are. Princess Anna, this is the new maid, Callan Stromme." Callan curtsied again, and Anna bobbed a small curtsy in return. "Callan, I present to you Their Royal Highnesses, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle."

"It's an honor to be serving you," Callan said, as she curtsied again.

"Hilde, could I talk to you for a minute please?" Elsa said. She gently took Hilde by the arm and led her to the foyer.

"What's troubling you, Your Majesty?"

"It's the new maid, Hilde. She looks to be the same age as Anna. Are you sure she can-"

"She can cook, and she can clean. She will serve you two well." Hilde said.

"But are you sure she's-"

"You'll be fine, Elsa."

Elsa stood silent, remembering the last time someone had told her that she'd be fine.

"I'm sorry to have offended you, Your Highness, I mean no disrespect," Hilde said, in response to Elsa's silence.

"No, no, Hilde. You're fine. I'd better get back to the dining room. You may return to your chambers now, if you'd like." Hilde nodded, and waddled away.

Elsa reentered the dining room to find Anna rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, and Callan still twiddling her thumbs, looking as nervous as ever.

"Anna," Elsa called to her younger sister. Anna rushed to her side.

"What's up, sis?"

"Why don't you go out to our favorite chocolate shop and get three hot cocoas? You, Callan, and I can sit in the family room and get better acquainted."

"Sure thing!" Anna skipped into the foyer, and grabbed a small satchel and flung it over her shoulder before walking out the door.

"Look," Elsa said, walking over to Callan and placing her hands on her shoulders. Callan almost fainted. "I can tell you're nervous. But everything's going to be okay, okay? This'll work out just fine." Elsa offered her a reassuring smile, although she was still apprehensive herself.

"Thank you, Your Majest- um, who's that?"

Elsa whipped around and saw Kristoff sneaking around on the second floor. Her eyes widened.

"Kristoff! What are you doing here?" Elsa asked, trying a little too hard to sound genuinely clueless. Kristoff stopped dead in his tracks. "Come down here," Elsa told him. He met her at the bottom of the stairway. "Kristoff, this is Callan, our new maid. Callan, this is Kristoff. He's Anna's friend. Her boyfriend."

Callan started to bow into a curtsy, but Kristoff stopped her. "That's not necessary, but thank you. It's nice to meet you," he said.

"Well, thanks for stopping by, but Anna's not here," Elsa said, pushing him towards the door. "You'll have to come back later." She shoved him out the door and slammed it behind him. She sighed and turned to Callan. "Men," she said, with an exaggerated eye roll.


	2. Chapter 2

Anna happily strode through the village, taking in every sight as if it were her first time seeing them. It was sunny and pleasantly cool, and a lot of townsfolk were out doing some shopping.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness," one woman greeted her, walking up to Anna with her young daughter.

"Hi, Princess!" the little girl said cheerfully, waving at Anna and sporting a big, toothy smile.

"Hey, sweetie!" Anna replied, donning a cheesy smile of her own. "Enjoying the sunshine?"

"Sure am! Momma and I were just going to see the ships!"

Since the incident with Hans, Elsa had ordered to cease all communications with The Southern Isles, and for good measure, the navy was strengthened. All the new ships were the pride of Arendelle, and the residents loved to go look at them.

"Sounds like a fun day! You two enjoy!" Anna said to both the girl and her mother.

"Okay! Come on, Momma!" the girl said, tugging her mother along. The woman waved a quick goodbye at Anna as the girl pulled her away.

Anna smiled and continued on her way to the chocolate shop.

"Hello there, Princess!" the shop owner said as Anna walked in, a little bell over the door chiming, announcing when a customer entered. The shop was busy, bustling with people out and about, grabbing some chocolate or a pasty to take along with them as they strolled through town.

"Hey, Birgiton!"

"What can I do for you today?" he said, polishing a coffee cup.

"Three hot cocoas to go, please!

"Three?" he asked, starting to prepare the order. "You and the Queen having company?"

"Well, not exactly. We have a new maid, and Els- er, the Queen, thought we'd treat her to a cocoa and get to know her," Anna explained.

"Ah, how nice! Anything else for ya, since I'm on a roll?"

"Um, now that you mention it, how about a bag of the Queen's favorite chocolate?"

"Sure thing!" Birgiton didn't need a specification, he knew which chocolate was Elsa's favorite. It was even labeled for sale as "The Queen's Choice". Birgiton put the to-go cups of cocoa on the counter, and started bagging the chocolate. "How's that?" he asked, filling the bag and holding it up for Anna to see.

"Perfect" she answered, placing a handful of coins on the counter and putting the chocolate in her satchel.

"Can you carry all those alright?" Birgiton asked.

"Yup, got 'em!" Anna said, balancing two cups in one hand, and comfortably taking the remaining cup in the other, then gliding out the door.

"I"m baaaack!" Anna sang as she arrived back home.

"Oh, hey Anna, we're in the family room," Elsa called. Anna walked in and found Elsa and Callan sitting in some chairs in front of a small fireplace. Upon her entering the room, Callan stood up and sped-walked over to Anna.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness, let me take those for you," she said, taking the two cups of cocoa from Anna's hand.

"You're okay," Anna giggled. "One of those is for Elsa, if you wouldn't mind handing it to her." she added, throwing her satchel over by where Elsa was sitting. Watching Callan walk over to Elsa's chair, Anna noticed how thin she was. It was almost troubling, but then again, Anna and Elsa were pretty skinny too, so Anna didn't give it much more thought.

"Come sit with me!" Elsa said, scooting over as far as she could and patting what was left of the seat of the chair. "Callan, you can sit down too, you know." she added lightheartedly, pointing to where she had been sitting before Anna came back.

"So what have you girls been talking about?" Anna asked, plopping down into the same chair as Elsa.

"Oh, not much," Elsa answered, squirming around, trying to adjust to the new seating arrangement. "Just kind of about how things usually work around here." She took a sip of cocoa. "Mmmm…"

"Good cocoa, huh? Oh! Look what else I brought!" Anna picked up her satchel and dug around for the bag of chocolate. "Ta-Daaaa!" she sang, showing the bag to Elsa.

Elsa gasped and took the bag from Anna. "Yes! I love you!" She took a piece of chocolate out of the bag and threw it into her mouth. "Do you want one, Callan?"

"Oh, no thank you, Your Majesty," she answered quietly.

"You look worried, Callan. What's the matter?" Anna asked, taking one of Elsa's chocolates. "You're not afraid that Elsa's going to freeze you, are you?"

"No! No, of course not!"

"Good, because I would never do that. That's our thing," Elsa smiled, poking Anna in the cheek, leaving a small patch of ice.

"Hey!" Anna yelled, defensively stuffing a piece of chocolate into Elsa's mouth.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Elsa laughed, taking another sip of cocoa. "Callan, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

So she did. She told them all about her family, and how she grew up. How she was the oldest one out of seven children, and the only girl. She explained her how mother became very ill and passed away, leaving her with her father and six younger brothers. She quickly mastered the role of woman of the house, learning how to cook for and clean up after six growing boys.

"Wow," Anna said. "So what made you leave all of them and come here?"

"My father knew I had this opportunity. He told me to go after this, and that he would take care of things." Callan answered.

"I bet you'll miss them," Elsa said.

"I will. But I trust my father," Callan said, a little more relaxed now.

"Good. Trust is a good thing to have," Anna said, looking over at Elsa and placing her hand on her knee.

"Sure is," Elsa said, a little too loudly, turning to Anna and smiling awkwardly. "So, Callan," she continued. "What else should we know about you?"

"Nothing, I think we've covered it all," Callan said.

So Elsa began telling Callan about her favorite books, all of which were on a special shelf in the library.

"Elsa has all of the books sorted in two piles. Her favorites, and the ones she hasn't read yet!" Anna joked.

The three girls talked and talked until it was late at night. Anna yawned, and Callan stood and walked over to the chair that the girls were still sharing. She collected the empty cocoa cups, and the empty bag that was once full of chocolate, and walked to the kitchen to dispose of them.

"I think we should be getting to bed," Elsa said when Callan returned, standing up and stretching her legs.

"Oh! Hold on a second, Callan," Anna said, hopping out of the chair and running out of the room. She came back a couple minutes later carrying some clothes. "I don't think we have nightclothes your size yet, so you'll have to borrow a pair of mine," she said.

Callan took the neatly folded pile of clothes form Anna. "Thank you," she said, looking down at the outfit. Anna had given her a dark green skirt, and an oversized white and purple button down shirt.

"You'll be taking Hilde's room once she leaves, but for now you can have her show you where can sleep," Elsa said. "I'm going to my chambers for the night, so goodnight you two!"

"Yeah, me too. Goodnight Callan!" Anna chimed, following Elsa out of the room. Callan nodded, then went to go find her room.

Elsa woke up in the middle of the night and walked downstairs for a glass of water. All the chocolate made her throat very dry. When turning the corner to walk into the kitchen, she saw Callan exiting the kitchen carrying a small glass of water.

"Callan? What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Oh, Your Majesty!" Callan said, startled. "Just having some water. What about you?"

"Same thing. I should have grabbed a glass before I went up to bed. Are you okay Callan? You look weak. Are you... shaking?"

"I'm fine. Here, Your Highness, take my water." Callan wobbled over to Elsa and handed her the glass.

"You can hardly walk! Are you sure you're okay?" Elsa said, taking the glass out of Callan's shaky hands.

"I'm okay, Your Majesty, really. I'm fi-" Callan's eyes closed and she began to fall forward.

Elsa gasped, dropped the glass, and caught Callan just before she hit the floor.

"Callan?" she said, gently shaking the girl's limp body. "Callan? Callan!"


	3. Chapter 3

Elsa hoisted Callan up onto the table. "Okay think, Elsa, think," she murmured to herself. She ran into the kitchen. Elsa gasped when she burst through the batwing doors. She had forgotten how huge the kitchen really was. After some hesitation, she began rooting through every drawer and cupboard looking for a washrag. "Where does Hilde keep those damn things?" she wondered out loud. She finally found one, waved her hand over it, and froze it. She jogged back out to the dining room, and placed the cold cloth on Callan's forehead.

"There…" she exhaled, putting her hands on her hips. She looked down at the broken glass on the floor and sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She walked back into the kitchen to get a broom. Once back in the dining room, Elsa swept the glass into a small pile, swept the pile into a corner, and propped the broom up against the wall. She walked back over to the table, pulled out a chair near where Callan was laying, and fell into it. Resting her elbow on the table, she put her hand on her forehead and sighed. After about half an hour, she began to doze off. But her nap was cut short when she heard Callan starting to come to.

"Urf…" Callan groaned, trying to sit up.

"Callan, are you okay?" Elsa stood up.

"Your Majesty? What… where am I?" Callan asked. She sat up, and the cold rag fell off of her forehead and into her lap. She picked it up and showed it to Elsa. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Elsa said.

"Oh... did I?" Callan said casually.

"Um, yeah," Elsa said, perplexed by Callan's tone. "You don't sound very concerned. Is this something that happens often?"

Callan swung her legs around so they would hang off the edge of the table. She was suddenly very interested in the cold rag, hanging her head, trying hard not to look back at Elsa. Both girls were silent for a few minutes. Callan finally looked up and started scanning the room, still intent on not making eye contact with Elsa. "What's that pile of glass doing in the corner?"

"I put it there," said Elsa. "I wasn't really sure what else to do with it."

"I'll take care of it, Your Majesty," Callan said, hopping off of the table. She hobbled towards the corner, still a little uneasy on her feet. Her legs gave out on her, and she lunged up against the wall to catch herself.

"Oh, goodness, Callan," Elsa said, rushing over to her and helping her back to her feet. "Come on," she continued, helping Callan keep her balance as they both walked back to the table. "Here."

Callan eased into the chair that Elsa had been sitting in. She sighed and put her hand on her forehead

"Callan, what's going on?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing, Your Majesty."

"Callan," Elsa repeated, almost as if she were scolding her.

"Look, it's nothing, okay?" said Callan. Elsa crossed her arms. "Okay, it's not nothing, it's something. But it's not something you talk about with your boss. Or your Queen, for that matter. So _please,_ Your Majesty, please don't give this another thought."

"Then don't talk to your boss, or your Queen!" Elsa said, throwing her arms up, releasing snowflakes into the air. "Talk to _Elsa_, Callan! You can talk to me!"

"I… just don't think so. I'm sorry," Callan said, starting to stand up. But with a flick of her wrist, Elsa froze Callan's feet to the floor. "Hey!"

"Sorry Callan, but something is obviously going on with you, and I don't want it to keep happening, because it's obviously taking it's toll on you. If you would just tell me, maybe I can help."

"No one can help me, Your Majesty. It's not really…" she started. "It's complicated."

"What do you mean complicated? What can be so complicated that you can't even say-"

"I'm anorexic!" Callan finally blurted out.

Elsa was silent, but her mouth was still open, failing to find words to say. "I… uh, wow. Um," she finally stammered after a few seconds. She absentmindedly unfroze Callan's feet, but she stayed seated.

"I was, anyway," Callan went on. "I thought I was over it. I thought I was better. But I guess I had a relapse."

"A relapse?" Elsa asked.

"I passed out because my blood sugar was low. My blood sugar was low because I haven't eaten in a while," Callan said reluctantly, starting to twiddle her thumbs like she always did when she was nervous.

"How long has it been?" Elsa asked, trying to switch her tone from confused to concerned.

"Uh, three days," Callan said softly.

"Three days?" shouted Elsa.

"Shh, shh!" Callan jumped out of the chair. "You'll wake everyone! Please…"

"Three days?" Elsa repeated, her voice taking a slightly angry tone.

"Yes, Your Majesty, three days. I was nervous about coming here. I was nervous that I wasn't good enough, or pretty enough or something, to be here. I wanted to make sure I looked as perfect as possible when I came to work for you and Princess Anna."

"By starving yourself?" Elsa yelled, a puff of cold air exiting her mouth.

"Why are you yelling at me?" cried Callan.

"Because I don't understand how anyone could do that to themselves!"

"Your Majesty, _please_ keep your voice down! I don't want anyone to wake up."

Elsa sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry," she said calmly.

"I told you, it's complicated. But you won't let it go," said Callan, now upset.

"Well excuse me for thinking that you might want help."

"I went through it alone and cured myself once, I can do it again."

Elsa took a deep breath, trying to keep from raising her voice again. "Okay. But just so you know, you don't have to," she said, turning around and walking towards the stairs.

"Your Majesty, wait." Elsa stopped a few stairs up. "Why do you care?" Callan asked her.

"What do you mean why do I care?" Elsa said, walking back over to Callan. "You collapsed right in front of me. What was I supposed to do, let you hit the floor then just walk away?"

Callan blushed and lowered her head, realizing that was probably a dumb question. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she said.

Elsa took a deep breath. "It's fine. You were speaking defensively. I'm sorry I was prodding."

"You weren't prodding, you were worried about me," Callan reached out and placed a hand on Elsa's arm, then quickly recoiled. "It was nice of you, Your Majesty. Thank you."

Elsa nodded. "You're welcome." She paused. "I know you said it's complicated, but do you think you could tell me how this all happened?"

"Sure," Callan said, pulling out a chair for Elsa then sitting down in hers. "Well for starters, I wasn't always this skinny. Before my mother passed I was actually a little chubby. But then when I had to start cooking for my father and the boys, there usually wasn't any food left for me. Then I had started losing the weight." She noticed how Elsa was looking at her, listening attentively, and lowered her head, embarrassed.

"I liked the way I was starting to look. So even when there were opportunities for me to get something to eat, I wouldn't. I guess you could say got addicted to not eating," Callan continued. "And on the occasions when I would eat, I just felt terrible about myself, as if the tiny meal I had would reverse all that I had become. So after every time I ate, I would starve myself all over again to make up for it. I was so afraid of getting fat again." Callan sighed. "I was really messed up. And it left it's mark."

"What do you mean?" asked Elsa.

"Do you mind if I show you?" Callan asked. Elsa shook her head no. Callan stood up and unbuttoned all except for the top two buttons on her nightshirt.

Elsa first noticed Callan's almost flat stomach bracketed by her two protruding hip bones. As her gaze shifted upward she saw Callan's ribs; she couldn't miss them. They stuck out so badly that they looked as if they were trying to rip right through her skin. Someone could have played them like a xylophone.

"Oh, goodness," Elsa said. She blinked a couple of times and tried to find something else to look at.

"That's what it does to you," Callan said, buttoning her shirt back up. "In addition to wrecking your blood sugar, that is. It makes you look like a walking skeleton."

"How did you cure yourself?" Elsa asked after a few seconds.

"I just got smart. Instead of killing myself after eating something gross, I just cooked healthier foods for myself. The boys still ate slop," she laughed, "but I ate the good stuff. Stuff that didn't make me look or feel bad."

"Well good for you," Elsa smiled and patted herself on the knees. She stood up and pushed her chair in.

Callan stood up also. "I'm sorry. That was really personal and heavy," she said. "I guess… I just kept it in for so long that when I finally worked up the nerve to tell someone, I just had to let it all out."

"It's fine, Callan," Elsa said, waving off the apology.

"Look, the thing is," said Callan, talking a couple steps towards Elsa. "I didn't exactly want anyone to know."

"Well now I know."

"I know. It's just, I just feel that… I don't know, I'm just worried that-"

"I won't tell anyone, Callan. Don't worry," Elsa smiled. "You can trust me."

Callan smiled and exhaled a breath of relief. "I hear trust is a good thing to have," she said.

Elsa's smile faded when she remembered Anna's words. She knew her younger sister's trust was misplaced. If Anna knew what was going on with Kristoff, she sure as hell wouldn't trust her anymore.

"Yeah, well, it can be," she said, taking a few steps back. "I'm going back to bed now. You're invited to eat breakfast with Princess Anna and I, if you would like. You and Hilde can fix something that you would like."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. That sounds great."

"Good. See you in a couple of hours, then." Elsa quickly ascended the stairs, ran into her room and slammed the door. "Trust..." she whispered to herself. She sighed, slipped back into bed, and pulled the covers up over her head.


	4. Chapter 4

"Elsa! Wake up, breakfast is ready!" Anna said, pounding on Elsa's bedroom door. It was a bright, sunny morning, and Elsa was still buried under her covers, trying to avoid whatever the day had to offer.

"Go away, Anna," Elsa mumbled loud enough for Anna to hear.

"Nope, not this time!" Anna burst through the door. She ran across the room and jumped on Elsa's bed. She threw the covers off of her older sister and smiled brightly. "Come on, Elsa, I'm staaaarving!" she said, right in Elsa's ear.

Elsa gently pushed Anna's face away from hers, leaving a frosty handprint on the whole left side of her face. "Alright, alright. I'm awake," Elsa laughed.

"Great! Now hurry up and get dressed," Anna said, hopping off of the bed and walking out of the room. "And, uh, fix your hair," she turned around in stride and added in a whisper.

Elsa waited a few seconds until she was sure Anna was a safe distance away to get out of bed herself. She ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times, and looked around her room. She couldn't seem to focus on anything. She sighed and walked over to her closet. She pushed the giant doors open, and quickly scanned through the ridiculous amount of dresses she owned. She settled on one of her trademark light-blue ones.

"I'm sure my hair looks fine," she mumbled to herself, striding out the door.

"There you are!" Anna said when Elsa was halfway down the dining room stairs. She scurried over to her older sister, linked their arms together, and led her down the rest of the stairs. "Look what Hilde and Callan did!"

Elsa looked at the table and saw the most beautifully arranged fruit trays, bursting with every fruit you could think of. "Wow, this looks great!" she said.

"I know, right? Look how colorful and juicy everything is! I can't wait to dig in!" Anna said.

"Where are Hilde and Callan?" Elsa asked.

"Still in the kitchen. I'll go get them!" Anna said, unlatching her arm from Elsa's. Once Anna was in the kitchen, Elsa walked over to the table and reached for a piece of melon.

"Not so fast!" Hilde yelled, walking out of the kitchen with Anna and Callan. Elsa stepped back and put her hands in the air. "Your Majesty has to wait, just like the rest of us."

"Alright Hilde, I'm sorry," Elsa laughed.

"Would anyone mind if I invited Sigvard to join us?" Hilde asked.

"Who's Sigvard?" Callan asked.

"He's one of the butlers," Anna answered. "Oh, and Hilde's boyyyyfriend," she added, wiggling her eyebrows

"Your Highness, that is enough," Hilde scolded, her face beet red.

Sigvard, who is only a couple years older than Hilde, started working for the Royal Family at around the same time that she had. Throughout all the years, they'd spent lots of time together, and as much as they'd hate to admit it, they liked each other.

"Cut it out, Anna," Elsa laughed. "Of course he can join us, Hilde. Why don't you go get him?" Hilde nodded and went to go find Sigvard. "So how did you two pull this all together?" Elsa asked, reaching again for a piece of melon. Anna slapped her hand.

"Hilde and I went down to the market really early this morning, so we got first picks at the fruit," Callan answered. "I hope everyone enjoys it."

"I know I will!" Anna chimed as Hilde walked back into the dining room joined by Sigvard.

"Good morning, everyone," he said, offering a small bow. Sigvard was a tall, skinny fellow, with a full head of perfectly groomed white hair, and an impressive mustache. He always appeared serious, but was no stranger to being a laid-back goofball.

"Good morning, Sigvard. I'm so glad you'll be joining us!" Elsa said, smiling warmly. Her and Anna took their places at the table, then she motioned for everyone else to sit down. "Oh, by the way Sigvard, this is Callan. She'll be taking over for Hilde."

"Oh, hello there," he greeted her, nodding his head. He wasn't necessarily happy that Hilde was leaving. He would have considered leaving with her, but he said that there is no one else fit to be a butler to "his girls", as he would sometimes affectionately call Elsa and Anna.

"Hello," Callan waved. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Anna stood up.

"I'm going to start, if no one minds. Those grapefruit slices are calling my name," she said, grabbing the plate of grapefruit. She also grabbed the melon plate that Elsa had been eyeing, and passed it to her. Everyone else filled their plates, and the the next fifteen minutes or so were spent in silence while everyone ate. "So what do you have going on today, Els?" Anna finally asked.

"I have a few more trade proposals that I should probably go over," Elsa answered. "What about you?"

"Aw, can't you skip them? I was going to take a hike up to your ice castle and I wanted you to go along."

Elsa's heart sank. Anna believed her to be the perfect older sister who could do no harm. Guilt was quickly taking over. "I'd love to, but I really need to look through those. How about tomorrow?"

"Okay, sure! Can we stop and have a picnic lunch too? I think that'd be nice."

"Of course," Elsa said, forcing a smile. It was killing her to have Anna be so nice to her when she was doing something behind her back that would break her heart. She had to talk to Kristoff about this.

"Great! Callan, you wouldn't mind packing us a lunch tomorrow, would you?" Anna asked.

"That's what I'm here for," Callan smiled, as she stood up and started collecting everyone's plates.

"It's okay, I'll get mine," Elsa said when Callan came around to her. She stood up and followed her into the kitchen. "Great breakfast today," she said.

"You really liked it?" Callan's face lit up.

"Yeah! There are very few things more delicious than fresh fruit. And the best part is that it was something that you were comfortable eating also," Elsa said. Callan nodded. "I know you're hear to take care of Anna and I, but don't forget to keep taking care of yourself too, okay?"

Callan smiled in response. Anna then ran into the kitchen carrying a small clay pot. She slid past Callan and Elsa, grabbed a bucket that was sitting in the floor, and filled it with soap and water. She smiled at the two girls, then took off just as quickly as she came.

"Where are you going with those?" Elsa asked, walking after her.

"I'm going to Town Square to blow bubbles with the kids! They should get a kick out of it," she answered.

"Alright, you have fun!" Elsa said, following her until she walked out the door, then gently shutting the door behind her. She walked back into the dining room where Sigvard and Hilde were still sitting and chatting. "Sigvard, could you please send for Kristoff? Some of the trade proposals include ice, and I would appreciate his input. I'll be in the meeting room, if you would send him up there."

"Of course, Your Majesty," he replied.

"Great, thank you," she exhaled, turning around and jogging up the stairs. _What am I going to say to him? What do I even want to say to him? _She thought to herself while scurrying down the hall. She shut herself into the meeting room, and sat down at her desk. She sighed and started flipping through the small stack of trade proposals. About twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Your Majesty? Kristoff is here," Sigvard said.

"Oh, good. Let him in." The door opened, and Sigvard motioned for Kristoff to head in. "Kristoff, hey!" Elsa said, standing to greet him. She couldn't help but be happy to see him. "Thank you, Sigavrd, that's all for now." Sigvard nodded, shut the door, and left.

"Hi," Kristoff grinned. "So some of these other kingdoms want some ice? They called on the right duo," he said, puffing out his chest. Elsa giggled.

"Yeah. Ever since word about my powers got out, they've really been trying to deal. Here, read this one," she said, handing him one of the papers.

"'Our kingdom is having a rough summer, and it seems we are in a drought. In exchange for half of the cotton we've harvested, would you consider sending us a little snowstorm?'" Kristoff read. "Really?" he chuckled.

"Really," Elsa said. "But… that's not really what I called you here to talk about."

"Oh?" He placed the paper back on Elsa's desk, and stood so close to her that he could feel cold air coming off of her. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I, uh," she stammered, both nervous and thrilled about how close he was standing. When she didn't answer right away, Kristoff pressed his lips against Elsa's, and held them there long enough to make Elsa completely forget why she had initially called him here. "I don't remember," she whispered, once their lips had separated.

"Too bad," he smiled, wrapping his hands around her waist. She smiled in return and threw her arms over his shoulders and around his neck. She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed him.

Time seemed to be irrelevant when they were together. Ordinarily lost in a kiss, only stopping to catch their breath, whether time was moving slow or fast, they didn't know. And they didn't care. But this time, much like the last, the moment was ruined by a knock on the door.

"Elsa? Are you in there?"

"Shoot, it's Anna! Kristoff, hide!" Elsa whispered, pulling away from him.

"Where?" he said as softly as possible.

Elsa frantically looked around. "Under the desk." Kristoff nodded. "Yeah, one second," she called to Anna once Kristoff was safely hidden. Elsa straightened her dress and answered the door. "What's up?"

"Oh goodness, Elsa. You look like you just ran up six flights of stairs. Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. It just startled me when you knocked. I jumped, like, ten feet in the air," she chuckled loudly. "It embarrassed me."

"Ha! Sorry about that. How are the trade proposals coming?" Anna asked, letting herself into the room.

"Uh, great! Great!" Elsa barked, covering her mouth, realizing she was talking too loud, a nervous trait she's only recently developed. Anna strolled towards the desk. Elsa ran to catch up to her, then jumped in front of her well before she got there. "Wh-what are you doing? I mean, I thought you were blowing bubbles in Town Square."

Anna furrowed her brow and smiled, confused by her sister's action. "I was," she said. "But the kids kinda took over. So I left them the bubbles and decided to come home," she shrugged. "Can I help you with your Queen stuff?"

"What do you mean?

"Like these trade proposals and stuff. I want to know how it all works," Anna said, stepping around Elsa and heading for the desk again.

"Why?" Elsa asked, almost racing her to the desk. "You've never shown any interest before."

"Well come on, Els, you're my big sister. Of course I'm interested in what you do. Little sisters always want to be just like their big sisters," Anna smiled. Elsa's stomach did an uncomfortable flip. "Plus, I'm bored," Anna added.

Elsa beat Anna to the desk, and practically dove into her chair.

"You're acting weird. Is everything okay?" Anna asked her.

"Everything's _fiiiine_," she said, drawing out the word for emphasis. "I'm just a little possessive over my Queen desk." She clenched her eyes shut, realizing how stupid that must have sounded. "Well if you don't have anything else going on, and you really want to help, could you actually go to my room and bring back my crown? I forgot to put it on this morning."

"Sure! I'll be right back," Anna said, spinning around on her heels and leaving the room. Elsa bent down to check on Kristoff, who was looking rather cramped.

"_That's_ what I wanted to talk to you about," she whispered. She stood up so Kristoff could get out from under the desk.

"Anna?" he asked, straightening out his clothes.

"Yes. Well, sort of. But later. Right now you need to leave. Hide in the room right to the left of this one until Anna comes back. I'll shut the door once we're both in here, then you sneak out, okay?" said Elsa, who was in a slight panic.

"Alright, got it. But calm down, okay? Everything's going to be fine, Elsie," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and lightly massaging them.

"Elsie?" Elsa smiled.

"Yeah," Kristoff blushed. "Why? Was that dumb?"

"No, it was cute," she said. She gave him a quick kiss, then gently pushed him towards the door. "I'll send for you again the next chance I get." Kristoff nodded, then swiftly entered the next room, closing the door behind him.

Elsa let out a huge sigh of relief. She put her hand on her forehead and walked slowly back to the desk. Just as she was straightening a stack of papers, Anna turned the corner slowly, wearing Elsa's crown and humming some fanfare. Elsa laughed, walked over to her, and bowed into a comically low curtsy. "Your Majesty, Queen Anna," she said.

Anna broke character and laughed. "'Queen Anna', huh? Kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?"

"Don't get any ideas," Elsa smiled, taking the crown off of Anna and putting it on her own head. "Come on, there's this one proposal that you _have_ to read." She ushered Anna in, then shut the door behind them.

That was Kristoff's cue to leave. He opened and shut the door as quietly as possible, then started tip-toeing down the hall. He was in the clear, but was still startled when he heard Anna laughing loudly.

"They want you to send them a snowstorm? HA!"


	5. Chapter 5

Elsa was actually looking forward to her hike with Anna today. She resolved to not let her guilt about Kristoff ruin a nice day with her sister. She was smiling and humming a tune while checking her outfit over in the mirror when she caught a faint whiff of whatever Callan and Hilde fixed for breakfast. "Mmm," she said, sashaying out of her room and down the hall.

She stopped in front of the closed door to Anna's room, and knocked a few times. "Anna? " No answer. "Anna, breakfast is ready. I'm heading downstairs. See you down there. Oh, don't forget to dress for our hike!"

Elsa trotted down the stairs, following her nose. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Anna and Kristoff standing in the dining room. She wasn't sure whether to turn around and bolt, or go see what was going on.

"Elsa! There you are," Anna said, when she noticed her older sister standing on the steps. "What kept you?

"Um," she started, finishing her descent down the stairs. "I figured you were still asleep, so I took my time this morning."

"Well I woke up extra early so I could have Sigvard send Kristoff an invitation to breakfast this morning," Anna said, placing one hand on Kristoff's shoulder, and the other on his chest. "Is that okay?"

_Not really. _She thought. "Of course," she said. "Good morning, Kristoff."

"Morning, Elsa," he smiled. She tried her hardest not to smile back.

"I'm just, uh, going to go see what's taking Callan and Hilde so long," said Elsa. But just as she started to walk away, the two maids came walking through the batwing doors, each carrying a plate stacked high with pancakes. They placed the plates on the table, then walked over to the trio.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you all like blueberry pancakes," Hilde said.

"Do I ever!" Anna said. "Oh, by the way. Callan, this is Kristoff."

"Yeah, we've met," Callan said, with a smile and a nod. Anna furrowed her brow. "He was here the other day," Callan explained. Elsa's eyes widened.

"You were?" Anna asked him. "When? I didn't see you."

"I, uh, well…" he stammered.

"He stopped by when you were out for cocoa," Elsa interrupted. "I told him you weren't around, so then he left. You guys just missed each other," she added with a nervous laugh.

"Aww! Sorry I missed you," Anna said, kissing Kristoff on the cheek. "Come on, let's eat!" She grabbed Kristoff's arm and yanked him towards the table, where Hilde, Sigvard and Callan were already sitting. He flashed Elsa a quick look of respite.

"So what would you two like me to fix you for lunch?" Callan asked Elsa and Anna, once everyone had started their breakfast.

"Surprise us," Anna replied on both of their behalves. Elsa shrugged in agreement, then took another bite of pancake.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Callan smiled. Kristoff reached across the table and took his third pancake off of the stack after quickly shoveling his first two down.

"Boy, you're hungry this morning," Anna commented. "Don't eat so fast, though. You'll make yourself sick."

"I'll be fine. I just want to make sure I'm out of here before you and Elsa head off on your hike."

"Why? You don't have to rush," said Anna. "Hey! Want to come with us?" she gasped.

"No!" Kristoff and Elsa yelled simultaneously. Anna furrowed her brow. Elsa and Kristoff shot each other a glance, waiting for the other to explain.

"Today's supposed to be our day, Anna. We were going to do some sisterly bonding. Just the two of us," Elsa said.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't want to intrude," Kristoff added.

"Oh, you wouldn't be intruding," Anna said, waving off Kristoff's excuse. "But Elsa's right. Today's our day." She looked over at Elsa and smiled. "Maybe next time."

"Yeah, maybe next time," Kristoff said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Uh, I'll take this one to go," he said, after a few moments of painfully awkward silence. He wrapped up his uneaten third pancake like a burrito. "See everyone later." He stood up, waved a quick goodbye to everyone, took a bite of his pancake burrito, and practically ran out the door.

Anna sighed and dropped her fork onto her plate. A few seconds later she picked it up and started poking what was left of her pancake.

"Your Highness, don't play with your food," Hilde said. Elsa gave her a disapproving look.

"Anna, is everything okay?" she asked, turning her attention back to her younger sister.

"Can we talk about it on our hike later?" she responded. She looked at Elsa without raising her head.

"Of course," Elsa answered hesitantly, knowing that it had something to do with Kristoff. Things were quiet for the rest of breakfast, except for the sounds of silverware clinking against plates as Hilde, Sigvard and Callan continued eating. Elsa and Anna seemed to have lost their appetites.

"Well, I better go get your lunches packed," Callan said.

"Everyone give your dishes to Sigvard, he's washing today!" Hilde joked, a huge smile on her face. He rolled his eyes, but didn't object.

"I'm going to go get ready," Anna said softly, pushing her chair out and standing up. "I'll be down in a few minutes," she said to Elsa without looking at her.

Elsa felt a lump in her throat. She swallowed, and took her dishes to the kitchen herself.

"Looks like there's trouble in Paradise, huh?" Callan commented. Elsa didn't say anything. "Look, I'm sure they're fine. He seems like a really good guy. You shouldn't worry about him hurting Princess Anna."

_I'm not worried about __him__ hurting Anna. _She thought. "Yeah," she mumbled. Callan looked over at her, sensing something was wrong, but not wanting to prod.

"I'll have your picnic ready in a few minutes. Why don't you go sit and relax for a few minutes until your sister is ready?" she said. Elsa nodded and exited the kitchen, just as Sigvard and Hilde were entering.

A little while later, Anna came sauntering down the stairs in her full snow gear. she smiled unconvincingly at Elsa. "Ready."

Elsa tried to muster up a genuine smile in an attempt to cheer Anna up. "Great! I'll grab our stuff from Callan and we can get going."

A couple minutes later, the girls were on their way. Elsa froze a path across the fjord, and they were headed for the North Mountain. Elsa led the way, and Anna elected to carry the picnic basket.

"Which way did you make it up?" Elsa asked.

"Not this way. I stopped at Oaken's on my way. Is this the way you came up?" Anna asked, hoping that they weren't already lost.

"I think so," Elsa said. "I wasn't exactly paying much attention at the time," she laughed. She looked over at Anna, hoping she would laugh too, but her face was sullen. "Hey, Anna," she started calmly. They both stopped walking. Anna looked at her with eyes that looked more tired than upset. All of a sudden, Elsa didn't know how to finish that sentence. Instead she placed a hand on her little sister's shoulder and smiled.

Anna smiled back, a fraction of a twinkle returning to her eyes. Encouraged by the fact that her effort to comfort Anna had worked, Elsa crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. Anna threw her head back and laughed.

"You're a weirdo," she said, shaking her head.

"Runs in the family," Elsa smirked, resuming the hike.

"Hey now!" Anna said. She put down the picnic basket and crafted a snowball, then threw it at Elsa, hitting her right between the shoulder blades. Elsa turned around slowly, trying to wear an angry expression, but giggling.

"Don't you start with me, little girl," she said.

Anna picked the basket back up and took off. She passed Elsa, trudging through the now ankle-deep snow as fast as she could, laughing as if she were five years old again. Elsa ran after her much more gracefully, quickly catching up. Anna squealed in an odd mixture of surprise and delight when she felt Elsa's icy hand grab her shoulder and push down. She fell, but was cushioned by all the snow.

"El-_saaa!_" she bellowed. "I could have squished our lunch!" she said, holding the basket up so it wouldn't get snowy. Elsa just smiled and looked down at her sister. Anna caught her off guard, swinging the basket into the backs of her knees.

"Oof," Elsa grunted as she hit the ground, waves of snow and cold air dramatically rippling in every direction.

"Oh, goodness Elsa are you okay?" Anna jumped up, alarmed by the unexpected display of Elsa's powers. Elsa responded by throwing a small snowball and hitting Anna square in the face. "Okay. I deserved that one. Truce?" she said, smiling and holding her hand out.

"Truce," Elsa agreed, taking Anna's hand and hoisting herself up.

Anna replayed the scenario that had just happened in her head. She grinned ear to ear when she thought of how her and her older sister could always have a good time together, and how when she needed to smile the most, Elsa made it happen.

"I love us," she said, gently bumping shoulders with Elsa as the two started walking again.

"I love us, too," Elsa smiled.

* * *

The girls had been hiking for some time, and were getting close to the ice castle, so they decided to take a couple detours to draw out their hike. They eventually reached a spot on a slight slope where there wasn't so much snow, and Anna suggested they stop for lunch. Elsa opened the basket and took out two blankets that Callan had packed, and spread them on the ground. Anna sat down, her back facing the rest of the incline, and practically dumped the contents of the basket onto the blankets.

"Hungry?" Elsa asked as she sat down across from Anna, observing the bread, cheese, apples and bananas that were spilled all around them.

"Yeah," Anna answered. "I didn't eat much breakfast."

"Your loss. Those pancakes were amazing," Elsa said, stopping an apple from rolling down the hill.

"Weren't they, though?" said Anna. She started fixing herself a sandwich. "I'm glad I ended up taking at least a few bites."

A twinge of guilt weaseled it's way into Elsa's conscious when she remembered why Anna hadn't eaten much in the first place. She tried to dismiss it by taking a comically large bite of the apple.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" she asked, wanting to get the inevitable conversation about Kristoff over with.

Anna sighed, and didn't say anything for a few seconds. "It's just," she started, then looked at Elsa to make sure she still had her attention. "It's Kristoff. He's been acting so weird and distant lately." She paused. "Did I do something wrong?" She took a bite of her sandwich.

"No, Anna, you didn't do anything wrong," Elsa said in as much of a comforting tone as she could.

"Then what's going on with him?" she yelled without realizing. A few bits of partially chewed sandwich flew out of her mouth, which she quickly covered. "Sorry," she mumbled. She removed her hand from her mouth. "It's just really upsetting me. It feels like when he's with me, he's not _with_ me, you know?"

Elsa nodded, then looked down, reaching the point in the conversation when she could no longer look Anna in the eye.

"What if…" Anna started, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat, then continued. "What if he turns out like Hans? What if he doesn't love me? What if he never did? What if he's just using me for some sort of sick game?"

"He's not using you, Anna," Elsa said.

"Why do you keep saying stuff like that? Do you know something?" Elsa furrowed her brow and shook her head slightly. She opened her mouth to day something, but no words came out. "If you knew something, you'd tell me, right?" Anna asked.

Elsa swallowed hard, and scratched her head. All of a sudden she felt strangely and uncomfortably warm. _Am I sweating? Is it even possible for me to sweat?_ She thought. _I can't shake the feeling that something's… melting._

"Elsa?" Anna asked sharply, interrupting her train of thought.

"Anna…" she said softly, looking up at Anna with remorse in her eyes. "There's something…"

But she stopped her explanation when she glanced behind Anna and saw a huge wave of snow careening right towards them. "Behind you!" she yelled, jumping up. Anna stood also, and whipped around, gasping when she saw the snow quickly approaching.

Elsa wrapped her arm around Anna's waist, and flung her little sister behind her. She held her hands out, commanding the snow to stop. And just like that, the huge heap of snow halted, as if it had run into a glass wall.

Elsa was panting, adrenaline shooting through seemingly every part of her, when she looked behind her to check on Anna. She was fine outside of being startled. Elsa moved her hands apart a couple inches, and the snow parted, continuing it's voyage down the mountain on either side of the girls.

"I didn't know you could do that," Anna said.

"Me neither," said Elsa. She looked at her hands, which were now trembling. "I mean, creating snow, yeah. But controlling snow that already exists?"

Anna let out a breath that was half relief, and half laughter. "That's too cool."

Elsa relaxed and turned her attention back to their picnic. "Are you going to finish that sandwich?"

Anna smiled, sat back down on the blankets, and split what was left of her sandwich in half.

"I love us," Elsa said, sitting down and taking her half of the sandwich, whatever trace of tension there was between the girls now gone.

"I love us, too." Anna and her older sister raised their sandwich halves in a toast, then simultaneously took a bite.


	6. Chapter 6

Elsa and Anna eventually made it up to Elsa's ice castle, and stopped in for a rest. Elsa was beaming brightly as she walked around admiring her work. She was proudly patrolling the whole room, running her fingers along the walls to make sure they were still freezing cold.

"Phew," Anna exhaled, sitting on the bottom step of the giant icy staircase. She leaned forward clumsily, with her elbows on her knees and her hands on her chin. "You need some furniture in here," she commented.

"Why?" Elsa asked. "No one's ever up here."

"Well what if we want to come up and visit again?" She gasped. "What if we wanted to camp out up here? Wouldn't that be fun, Elsa?"

"It would," she admitted. So with a few flicks of the wrist, and some graceful arm movements, there was a full living room set, perfectly resembling the family room on the ground floor of the palace, complete with two armchairs, a sofa, and two bookshelves on either side of an ironically frozen fireplace.

"Nice!" said Anna. She stood up and walked over to the ice sofa. "Although I can't imagine ice furniture being very comfortable." She sat down and squirmed around. "Eh," she said disapprovingly.

Elsa rolled her eyes. She snapped her fingers, and the chairs and sofa turned from ice to snow.

"Now that's more like it!" Anna tested the comfort level of the new sofa by bouncing up and down a little.

"Anna be careful, it's probably not very-"

_"Bwuff!"_

"Stable…"

Anna's side of the snow sofa had collapsed, leaving her on the ground with a lap full of snow. Elsa tried her hardest not to laugh at her poor little sister, who was sitting on the floor, looking down at the snow all over her. But she couldn't help it. It reminded Elsa of when they were little, and Anna fell off of their bike. Anna sat on the floor, softly whimpering as she looked down at her skinned knee. She looked so sad and adorable back then, she couldn't help but laugh, just a little.

Elsa's mind returned to the present, and she laughed both at the memory, and the slight recreation of it. She walked over and helped Anna up.

"Sorry I broke your sofa," Anna chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. Elsa shrugged off the apology, snapped her fingers again, and the sofa was fixed. "So what was it that you were going to tell me?" Anna asked, taking a much more gentle approach to one of the armchairs.

Elsa furrowed her brow. "What?"

"You know, before we got attacked by the snow. You said 'there's something…' then we almost got buried."

"We didn't almost get buried," Elsa scoffed. "I had it under control."

"Yeah, barely!" said Anna. "But anyway, what was it?"

"Well," Elsa began. "I was just going to tell you that…" she paused. _Do I tell her right here? Right now? _"That the snow was behind you."

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Elsa," she said, unconvinced.

"Anna," Elsa mocked, raising an eyebrow too. Anna crossed her arms. "Really, Anna! I saw the snow, so I was going to say something. But it was coming a lot faster than I initially thought, so I panicked," Elsa said, with false confidence that even fooled herself.

Anna's interrogation-like stance on the matter dropped. "Aww, my big sister was looking out for me!" she chimed. She stood up, walked past Elsa and headed for the door. "You're the best, Elsa."

Guilt fully engulfed Elsa in a heartbeat. "No I'm not! Stop saying that!" she yelled. The temperature in the ice castle dropped even lower. She gasped and covered her mouth, not daring to turn around and catch Anna's reaction. _Did I really just say that out loud? God, Elsa, that one was __not__ supposed to leave your brain. _

"Woah, calm down, it was just a compliment," Anna said with a giggle. She bent down to pick up the picnic basket, then turned around and looked at Elsa, who was still facing the sofa with her hand over her mouth. _Wait, was she being serious?_ Anna thought. "Elsa," she called. Elsa still wouldn't turn around. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," she answered, finally turning around. She donned the world's worst fake smile. "But we should get going. I think Hilde and Callan expect us back for dinner."

"Sure, Elsa. Let's go." Anna held out her free hand, waiting for Elsa to take it. She did, reluctantly.

"I'm sorry, Anna," she said, almost letting herself tear up. "For the outburst, I mean. For the outburst." She tacked a nervous giggle on the end of her statement for good measure.

Anna smiled warmly. "Race you down the mountain!" she said with a sudden burst of energy.

"Oh please. I'm already halfway there!" Elsa said, bolting out of the castle. Not only to race Anna, but also in hopes of escaping her guilt, even for just half a second.

* * *

The next morning started off as usual. Elsa was awake, her hair was perfect, and she was sitting in the dining room waiting for breakfast before Anna even stumbled out of bed. And although the morning started off as usual, Elsa could tell that something was off. Today was Hilde's last full day, and everyone and everything seemed to be a little on the dismal side. Even the palace itself seemed somber.

"Wow!" Elsa jumped when her train of thought was unexpectedly interrupted. "Your Majesty, your hair looks _amazing_," Callan marveled, placing a ham and cheese omelette in front of Elsa.

"Thanks," she smiled, admiring her own braid. "Have you heard from Anna this morning?"

"No. Haven't you?"

"No…" Elsa cut off a small piece of her omelette and checked it over.

"Something wrong?" Callan asked.

"No, no! Of course not!" Elsa said, quickly eating the bite as to not offend Callan. "I just have a bad feeling about this day."

Just then, Anna tromped down the stairs, still in her pajamas, her hair not done at all. "Morning," she mumbled.

"Anna, hey," Elsa said, rushing over to her sister. "Is everything okay?" She attempted to smooth out Anna's orange mane.

"Eh, I just don't feel very well. Not sick or anything, just overly tired I guess," she answered. Elsa put her hands on Anna's shoulders.

"Yeah, we did have an exhausting day yesterday. Why don't you go back up to your room. I'll bring you a pastry on my way to the meeting room, then you can relax for the whole day, and no one will bother you." She was now gently rubbing her sister's arms.

"Mmm, pastries and relaxing. Sounds perfect. You know me so well!" said Anna. "Thanks, Elsa." She smiled warmly, then plodded back up the stairs. Elsa sat back down and took the knife to her omelette again, then happened to glance over at Callan, who was looking back at her almost affectionately.

"Something wrong?" Elsa smiled.

"What? Uh, no," Callan said, blushing and looking away. "It's just, you're such a good big sister. You and Anna have such a great relationship. It makes me wish I had a sister."

Elsa looked down at her breakfast. "Yeah, well," she said, then took a huge bite.

Callan laughed. "So what do you have going on today, Your Majesty?"

"Ugh, too much," Elsa answered with a mouthful of egg. She rolled her eyes. "I have to make final decisions on some trade proposals, help Hilde pack, read the naval Captain's monthly report…" she trailed off. "Oh, that reminds me of something. Excuse me for a second." She stood up, and popped another bite of omelette in her mouth. She walked into the foyer, then into the family room, where she saw that Sigvard was sitting. "Oh, there you are."

At the sound of Elsa's voice, Sigvard practically jumped up and turned around to face her. "Good morning, Your Majesty. What can I do for you?" he bowed.

"Could you send for Kristoff for me, please?" She didn't give a reason, but Sigvard didn't really seem to notice.

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Sigvard, don't you want something for breakfast?"

"Perhaps a little later."

Elsa shrugged, and started back into the dining room. She knew Sigvard was upset about Hilde leaving, but she wasn't about to make him talk about it. When she arrived back at the table, Callan was holding a plate of pastries, framed by some strawberries.

"These are for you to take up to Princess Anna," she explained.

"Oh, okay thanks," Elsa said. She quickly finished her breakfast, nodded and took the plate from Callan, and headed upstairs.

* * *

"Anna?" she said, knocking on her little sister's bedroom door.

"Come in, Elsa," she said softly. Elsa entered the room and looked around for Anna. "I'm under the covers," she hinted.

"Oh, I didn't even see you," Elsa laughed. "Here, I brought you breakfast."

Anna pushed the covers off of her and sat up. "Ooh, did you bring me something good?"

"Hope you like egg shells and mud," Elsa said sarcastically, sitting down beside Anna.

"Do I ever!" Anna said. Elsa placed the plate on her lap. "What? Pastries and strawberries? No thanks," she said with equal sarcasm, throwing her head back and lowering a strawberry into her mouth.

Elsa patted herself on the knees. "Well, I'll leave you alone now." She went to stand up, but Anna grabbed her arm.

"You don't have to leave me alone," she laughed.

"You need your rest, Anna. Plus, I have some things to do." Anna reluctantly let go of her sister's arm, allowing her to stand. "Tell you what. You finish your breakfast, then try to get back to sleep. When I'm done with my Queen stuff I'll come check on you again."

Anna took a bite of pastry. "Okay, sure. Have fun doing Queen stuff," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What was that for?" Elsa laughed, crossing her arms. Anna shrugged. Elsa glared at her.

"Alright, alright! It's just, you do Queen stuff _alllll _the time!"

"Maybe because I'm the Queen?"

"Well, duh, you're the Queen. But it seems like you're always on the clock as the Queen. When are you my sister anymore?" Anna asked. She then looked around, confused by her own question.

"What? Anna, I'm always you're sister. What about yesterday? I took a day off so we could spend time together."

"I know, I know," Anna rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, that was a dumb statement. I don't even know what I was trying to say. Well, I mean, I do. But it's dumb. Just, go do your Queen stuff. I obviously need some sleep."

"Now wait, what is it you're trying to say?" Elsa inquired.

Anna sighed. "I feel… gosh, this is stupid, but I feel like I miss you." Elsa opened her mouth to comment, but Anna stopped her. "I know, you're never more than a couple rooms away from me, and the doors are always open for us now, but recently, you seem really busy. And even though you're usually right down the hall, I miss you."

Elsa gulped. _It's because half the time I say I'm working, I'm with Kristoff. Both of us are distancing ourselves from her. I don't want that. I hate this. I hate this so much. _

"I'm sorry, Elsa. I know you're busy." Anna nervously twirled a strawberry around by it's stem.

"Don't be. I need to make time for you. You're my little sister, and the most important thing to me." Elsa sat back down beside Anna, but stood back up when she remembered that Kristoff would be there soon. "I have something extra important I need to take care of today. But after today, I'll cut back on my Queen hours, okay?" she smiled.

Anna smiled softly, "You mean you'd risk the well being of the kingdom to make me happy?" Anna said, in a big, goofy voice that didn't match her smile.

Elsa laughed. "Hey, it's nothing I haven't done before."

Anna laughed and ate the strawberry. "Alright, alright. Go do your thing. I'm going back to bed when I finish this anyway."

Elsa backed out of the room. She stopped at the doorway just before leaving. "I'm sorry you feel the way you feel, Anna. But it'll change." She smiled warmly at her little sister. "Have a nice nap." She shut the door behind her, then scurried down the hall. She peeked into the meeting room, and when she saw that Kristoff wasn't there yet, she went back to the dining room. When she saw that Callan wasn't there anymore, she went to the room that Callan and Hilde share.

She heard humming coming from the bathroom that the two maids shared. She looked in and saw Callan sitting in front of the mirror braiding her hair.

"Callan?"

Callan jumped up and turned to face Elsa. "Oh, goodness, Your Majesty. You scared me!"

"Sorry about that," Elsa laughed. "What are you up to?"

Callan sat back down in front of the mirror, her face red. "I was kind of trying to do my hair like yours."

"Here, let me help." Elsa grabbed a stool that was sitting against the wall, and sat down behind Callan. She started running her fingers through Callan's hair. "Hmm, it's not quite cut right. But I think I can make it work. First, all of your hair has to lay over your left shoulder."

"Left shoulder, got it."

"Then you just start braiding. Make it as tight as you can," Elsa explained, taking it upon herself to fashion Callan's hair into a braid. Things were silent as Elsa worked, and Callan watched in the mirror.

"So," Elsa finally broke the silence, "why don't you tell me about your little brothers?"

Callan covered her mouth and laughed. "Oh, they're a handful, I'll tell you that. Especially Ingo,he's the youngest. But my oldest brother, Aldrik, has really looked after him." She smiled, recalling all sorts of things about her brothers. Stories for another day.

"That's good of him. How old are they?"

"Aldrik is 18, just a year younger than me, Dagvin is 16, Froder and Fritz, the twins, are 13, Tobias is 9, and Ingo is 7." Callan listed the boys at lightning speed.

"Oh my goodness," Elsa giggled. "I can only imagine what a handful they'd be."

"They're sweet boys, though," Callan smiled. "One night, my father was out late, so I had to take extra care of the boys, and make sure Tobias and Ingo got to bed. I tucked Ingo in and kissed him on the forehead. He looked back at me and smiled this adorable little smile." Her voice caught right at the end of her sentence. She took a long pause before speaking again. "And he said to me, 'Goodnight, Mommy'," she continued, her voice breaking. She placed her hand over her mouth, a small sob escaping. "That was a big deal for me."

Elsa continued braiding in silence, not quite sure what to say. Callan sniffled, and wiped away a few tears that had made their way down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry. That must have sounded extremely stupid," she said.

"No, no, of course not!" said Elsa. "I know what it's like to look after a younger sibling. Granted, Anna's much older than Ingo, the same age as Aldrik actually, but-"

"Your Majesty? Queen Elsa?" Sigvard called from the foyer. "Your visitor is here."

"Oh!" She quickly finished Callan's braid, stood up, and returned the stool to where she found it. "Send them to the meeting room, please Sigvard, I'll meet them in there!" she called back. "I'm sorry, Callan, I have to go."

Callan stood also. She nodded. "Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, fiddling with her braid.

"Please, Callan, when it's just us talking like that, just call me Elsa," she smiled, before practically racing out of the room.

* * *

She arrived at the meeting room and saw Kristoff flipping through some papers on her desk.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat. extra loud, trying to scare him.

"Oh hey," Kristoff said nonchalantly, without flinching or looking up at Elsa.

"What? That didn't startle you?

"No, I heard you coming from halfway down the hall," he smiled.

Elsa looked down at her shoes and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, stupid heels," she scoffed. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I don't know. You called me here, shouldn't I be asking you?" He held up one of the papers. "Are you still thinking about these trade proposals?"

"Yes." She took the paper from him. "I need to figure these out today. But I wanted to talk to you first."

He joined her on the other side of the desk. "Well, I think this one is a reasonable offer," he said, pointing to the paper. "We could definitely hold up our end of the bargain, and it would be nice to have-"

Elsa laughed. "Thank you, Kristoff, but I can handle these. I need to talk to you about something else." She sat down on her desk, and put the paper back on the stack.

"What's wrong?" he asked, growing concerned.

"It's Anna," Elsa sighed. "I can't keep hiding this from her, I just can't." Elsa expected some sort of comment, but all Kristoff did was gulp. "Come on, Kristoff, you can't tell me that you feel good about this."

"Of course I don't feel good about this!" he said, throwing his arms up. "I mean, Anna and I are technically still a couple. She thinks I love her. It's twisting my stomach to think about how perfect she believes everything to be."

"I know. Lately she's been telling me what a good person I am, and how I'm such a great older sister, and it kills me. It kills me, knowing that she still thinks that, despite what's going on. Because if she knew what was going on…" she trailed off.

"So what are you saying? That you want to tell her?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, maybe. Maybe we should ease her into it."

"Is there really a way to ease someone into this kind of thing?" he asked, taking a couple steps toward where she was sitting.

"I don't know, Kristoff," she said, putting a hand on her forehead.

Kristoff put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll figure something out."

She paused to gather her thoughts. "I'm scared, Kristoff," she said, a slight whimper in her voice. "I'm scared that once we tell her, she'll… she'll hate me. And after all that her and I have been through, I don't think I can-"

"Hey, hey, hey, I know," he said, trying to calm her down. "I know it's scary to think about. But like you mentioned, you two have been through a lot worse. Maybe it won't be so bad. You know, in comparison." He offered her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back, trying not to let tears fall. "That's ridiculous," she said. "If there's one thing you don't mess with, it's a teenage Princess's true love."

"But here's the thing," he said, stepping even closer. "I'm not her true love."

"She thinks you are."

"I know," he said, looking intensely into her eyes. "And that makes me feel extra guilty about doing this."

"Me too, Kristoff. You have no idea." And in response, he kissed her. His kiss was as intense as his stare. It took Elsa by surprise, but she didn't by any means object. Instead she tried to match the ferocity of his kiss with one of her own. She threw her arms around his shoulders, and wrapped one leg around his waist, leaving the other still hanging off of the desk where she was sitting.

Meanwhile, Callan was still in the bathroom, looking in the mirror at her braid. _It was so nice of Her Majesty to braid my hair. Oh, I mean Elsa. _She thought to herself, smiling when she remembered that she could now actually refer to Elsa as Elsa. _I never thought I'd be friends with the Queen! She seemed to have a lot on her plate today. Maybe it would help if I helped Hilde pack for her, or something. I should go ask. That would be an appropriate gesture, right?_ She stood up and left the room.

Although she considered herself and Elsa friends now, and Elsa did the same, Callan was still nervous about going to talk to her for some reason. Thoughts raced through her head on her way to the meeting room.

_Stop being weird, Callan. All you have to do is ask her if she needs help with anything today. Maybe she's busy right now. She's in the meeting room with a guest, after all. _ But when Callan was almost to the meeting room, she noticed that the door was open. _Oh, okay._ So, nervously looking at her shoes, she walked by the room and stood in the doorway.

"Hey Els, uh, Your Majesty, I was thinking that maybe…" She looked up, and saw Elsa and Kristoff locked in their passionate kiss, Elsa's leg still wrapped around him, his hands tightly gripping her waist. They hadn't heard her. "Elsa?" she yelled in disbelief. The two pulled apart. "And Kristoff? Anna's Kristoff?"

"Callan!" Elsa said. Kristoff backed away a few steps. "I, uh, we…" But Elsa didn't get to come up with an explanation before Callan turned around and sped away. Elsa jumped off of her desk and followed her. "Callan!" she called. Callan stopped walking and allowed Elsa to catch up with her. "Listen, that was… he was… I was just going over those trade proposals again. You know, the one's with the ice," she rambled nervously. "And I called Kristoff here because he knows a lot about ice, and uh, I just wanted his input on-"

Callan whipped around, now face to face with Elsa. "Oh yeah, I bet you _wanted his input_ real badly," she said, hanging air quotes around the words.

Elsa's face turned beet red. "That is no way to talk to me!"

"Whatever," Callan said. She turned around and started walking away once again.

"Callan wait!" Elsa yelled. Callan stopped walking, giving Elsa one last chance to explain things. "You're not going to tell Anna, are you?"

"_Ugh!_" Callan groaned, storming off.

Once the coast was clear, Kristoff joined Elsa in the hallway. He stood a few feet behind her, and didn't make a sound.

Elsa slammed the side of her fist against the wall. Kristoff jumped when small, sharp ice crystals shot out of the impact point. "Damn it!" she said. She put her head in her hands, and ran back into the meeting room, leaving icy footprints with every step she took.


	7. Chapter 7

"Elsa!" Kristoff yelled, running after her, careful not to slip on the ice.

She was pacing around the meeting room, violently gripping her hair. "She's going to tell Anna, Kristoff. She's going to tell her!"

"You don't know that."

"Do you seriously think she won't tell her?"

"Elsa, calm down!"

"Do _not_ tell me to calm down!" she yelled. She threw her hands back, and an icy wind blew all of the papers off of her desk. She was breathing heavily. She looked at Kristoff with fear and panic in her eyes.

"Okay then. Elsa, cool it," he said, adding a twinge of humor, or at least trying to.

She furrowed her brow, still breathing heavily. "Really?" Kristoff shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. "Get out," she said.

"What?"

"Get out!"

"Elsa…"

"Kristoff, in case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of panicking. This is no time for you to joke around, or piss me off, or whatever it is that you're trying to do!"

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Elsa! Please, just-" She shot him an icy glare before he could finish. He sighed. "I'm sorry."

After a few seconds her angry demeanor melted away. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not even mad. More like scared, I guess."

"I understand."

"I know Callan's going to tell Anna, I just know it. I'm scared of how Anna will react. I'm scared that she'll hate me."

"Why don't you tell Anna first then?"

"What?" said Elsa.

"Why don't you beat Callan to the punch? I mean, to be honest, Anna'a going to be mad either way. Sorry, but it's true. But maybe if you tell her yourself, she'd be a lot less mad than if she heard it from Callan." Kristoff suggested.

"But how, Kristoff? How am I supposed tell my little sister that I've been sneaking around with her supposed boyfriend?"

"You said it yourself, you need to ease her into it."

"What's all this 'you' stuff? Aren't you going to have a part in this? Anna and I share you, it would only make sense."

Kristoff shuddered. "Don't say that you and Anna share me. It makes me feel dirty. And no, I don't think I should have a part in this. _You're _her older sister. And the other woman too, at that."

It was Elsa's turn to shudder. "Don't call me the other woman." The two were silent for a while. Elsa walked over and stood behind her desk and gathered the papers together. "How did this even happen, Kristoff?" she asked, dejected, as she plopped down into her chair.

Kristoff followed her, stood behind her chair and started rubbing her shoulders. "Well, when a boy and a girl really like each other…" he started. Elsa elbowed him in the stomach.

"Shut up," she giggled.

"Hey now, I'm just trying to lighten things up."

"Well stop," she scolded, but she smiled. "Listen, Kristoff," she said after a few seconds. "I have a lot to do today, and I have a lot on my mind. I think it'd be a good idea if you left." She cringed slightly, worried he'd be offended.

"Sure, of course," he said, his voice soft and understanding. Elsa stood up, pushed the chair out from in between them, and gave him a big hug. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt his arms wrap around her. "Anything to help you figure through this," he continued. "After all, I am half of the problem."

"You are not a problem," she said into his chest, her voice slightly muffled. "You're sweet, and kind, and understanding…"

"And dashingly handsome," he added, holding her tighter.

"Yes, and dashingly handsome," she agreed with a laugh. They pulled back from the hug, but still held each other's arms. "Thank you," Elsa smiled.

_God, that smile of hers…_ Kristoff thought, his eyes lighting up. "Sure," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow." he reluctantly stepped away from her and started for the door.

Elsa furrowed her brow. "Oh, right. Anna invited you here in the morning to send Hilde off with us, didn't she?" she remembered.

"Yup, see you then. Bright and early," he answered, then he was gone.

* * *

A smile remained on Elsa's face long after Kristoff had left. She wasn't sure why, he just had that affect on her sometimes. Today, she effortlessly whirled through her to do list, settling on trade agreements and reading the naval Captain's report, even writing out a response. For whatever reason, she didn't think at all about the incident with Callan. Until, that is, she finally left the safety of the meeting room for the day and ventured into the rest of her palace.

Not really knowing how long she had been in there, she decided not to knock on Anna's bedroom door in case she was still sleeping. But Elsa didn't want to go downstairs either, in fear of running into Callan. She sighed and paced around the hall. She eventually made her way to the library, and settled in a chair with a good book. Or, at least she tried to. All of a sudden her mind was racing.

_What if Callan's talking to Anna right now? Maybe I should go see… But I don't want to bring it up with Anna if it's not necessary. Not yet, anyway. Maybe I should talk to Callan. I can try to explain things, I suppose. Or at least make something up, given that I can't even explain things to myself. _

She didn't even notice that she was freezing the book to her hands. "Oh!" she gasped, when she eventually looked down. She tried to let go of the book, but there was a solid inch of ice binding it to her hands. She clumsily moved her arms around, and the ice retreated back into her hands. Even though she was confident that no one had seen, she blushed, and scurried in between some book shelves.

"What is wrong with me all of a sudden?" she wondered out loud, returning the book to it's rightful place on the shelf. "That's it. I need to go find Callan."

She turned out of the library, but quickly chickened out of going downstairs, instead heading for Anna's room. She knocked ever so softly, not wanting to disturb her sister if she didn't have to. "Anna? You awake?"

"Sure, come in, Els."

Elsa slowly opened the door, peeked inside, then shuffled in, closing the door right behind her. "Hey, how was your nap?" she asked, putting her hands behind her back.

"Heavenly," Anna said. She was sitting up on her bed, still half covered. She stretched until her back cracked. Elsa winced at the noise. "What did I miss around here today?"

"Nothing that I know of. I just finished writing my response to the Captain, so I'm done for the day. I just though I'd check on you."

"Glad you did," Anna smiled. "Want to go get a snack?"

Elsa thought about it longer than she should have, analyzing the affect it would have on Callan if she saw Elsa and Anna together. Maybe Callan would think that Elsa told Anna what was going on, and she was oddly okay with it. Maybe it would somehow let Elsa off the hook, at least for a little while longer. "Sure," she finally answered.

"Yay! We should go get some chocolate! Okay, I'll get dressed and meet you in the dining room in a few minutes, okay?"

"Gotcha," Elsa smiled and gave a thumbs up before slinking out of the room. She cautiously checked the dining room for any sign of Callan before walking down the stairs. She tiptoed, and stood in the most secluded corner in the room, trying to stay hidden until Anna came downstairs. She kept cautiously peeking around the corner and up the stairs.

"What are you doing?"

Elsa must have jumped about 10 feet in the air. She whipped around and saw Callan standing right outside the kitchen doors. "Callan! I, er…" she started. "Nothing," she continued, trying to appear normal. "Just waiting for Anna to come downstairs. We're going to go get some chocolate."

Callan gave her the weirdest look. "Oh, okay. Well have fun," she said, starting to head back to her room.

_Wait, that's it? No snide comment or innuendo? No threat or ultimatum?_ Elsa thought. But as much as she was questioning it, she didn't dare say a word and give Callan any ideas.

Anna came downstairs moments later, searching for Elsa, who was still in the corner for some reason. "Elsa?"

All of a sudden Elsa felt stupid for hiding. She quickly thought of a way to make it seem less weird. "Boo!" she ran from the corner and jumped out in front of Anna.

This time Anna jumped about 10 feet in the air. "Oh, goodness Elsa! What was that for?"

Elsa smiled and shrugged. "Why not?"

"You little stinker," Anna put one hand on her hip and pointed at Elsa. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

The duo arrived at Birgiton's shop and stood in line politely, despite the villager's offers to have their spot in line. By the time it was finally their turn, Anna quickly ordered for the both of them. Elsa looked down at the display case of chocolate and smiled.

"The Queen's Choice?" she giggled. Birgiton blushed.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty. Princess Anna told me it was your favorite, and now it's the favorite of the rest of the kingdom! It's my best seller!" he explained.

"It's fine," Elsa said, waving off what she assumed to be some sort of apology on Birgiton's part. "What kind of Queen would I be if I didn't share my favorite chocolate with my subjects?"

Birgiton smiled, nodded, and handed Anna two to-go cups of cocoa, and placed a small bag of 'The Queen's Choice' on the counter. "Will that be all for you ladies?"

"Yes, Birgiton, thank you," Elsa said, picking up the bag of chocolate off of the counter and replacing it with a few gold coins. The girls took their snack outside and sat down at a little table right outside of Birgiton's shop. "This was a good idea, Anna. It's such a nice day out, too. I'm glad to get outside after being cooped up in the meeting room all day."

"I bet," Anna said, being the first to open the bag and take out a chocolate. "You got all of your stuff done, then?"

"_All_ of it," Elsa said with a sigh, taking a chocolate also. "I decided which trade proposals to act upon, read over Aberforth's report, and even wrote a response. So the kingdom should be taken care of for a while, hopefully."

"So you're free tomorrow morning then?"

"I should be. Why?"

"I thought of making Hilde a special send-off breakfast."

Elsa picked out another chocolate and looked it over thoroughly. "Do we even know how to cook?"

Anna laughed. "I'm sure we could figure something out."

"I'm sure you're right. Sounds like a plan! I bet she'd really appreciate us doing something for her for a change."

Elsa smiled, taking pleasure in just sitting and talking with her sister. As far as Elsa knew, it could be one of the last times it could be this way. Who knows how dynamically their relationship would change once Anna knew about Elsa and Kristoff, no matter who told her.

* * *

The next morning Elsa woke up extra early, just to make sure Anna was awake extra early. Neither of them really knew how to cook, and Elsa wanted to get a head start on Hilde's send-off breakfast, just in case something went wrong. Which, let's face it, it was bound to happen.

"Elsa! I'm out of knives!" Anna yelled from across the kitchen.

"What do you mean you're out of knives?" Elsa yelled back.

"I mean, I used this one to slice the bread, now I need one to slice the fruit!"

"Use the same one, Anna!" Elsa yelled, slightly aggravated, but mostly amused. She was having a good time, at the expense of her little sister being upset over having no cooking skills whatsoever.

"Oh, right," said Anna. She could practically hear Elsa roll her eyes. "Shut up," she yelled. Elsa laughed.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were thinking it!" She paused. "Are you even contributing? Or are you just here to be snarky?"

Elsa scoffed. "Snarky? My dear sister, you haven't even seen the beginning of it," she said, and she conjured a snowball and threw it into Anna's back.

Anna gasped. "El-_saaa!_" she whined. "That was cold!"

In the middle of Anna's complaints. Kristoff came sauntering in the kitchen through the batwing doors. "Hey! I heard you two are cooking. I'm surprised nothing's on fire," he said.

"Be careful what you say, Kristoff. Anna's got a knife," Elsa laughed.

"Yeah, and I know how to use it," Anna said, in a tone that would suggest that she wasn't joking. Kristoff decided it would be safer to join Elsa on her side of the kitchen instead.

"So what's cookin', good lookin'?" he said nonchalantly. Elsa turned to him with wide eyes. She darted her gaze to Anna and back. Kristoff slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Anna, Kristoff asked you a question," Elsa covered for him.

"Oh, um, well I'm slicing some fruit and bread, and I don't know what Elsa's actually doing," she said dryly.

"That's enough, Anna. I told you I'm trying to fix some eggs and juice."

"Please don't say you're trying to fix egg juice…" Kristoff joked.

"Eggs _and_ juice," Elsa laughed. Kristoff smiled. He loved making her laugh. Elsa paused, thinking about how hurt her sister's feelings were probably getting. "Uh Kristoff, why don't you go see if Anna needs help with anything."

"I'm fine," Anna muttered from across the kitchen.

Kristoff shrugged and leaned up against the counter that Elsa was working on. Elsa tilted her head towards Anna and mouthed the words 'Go anyway'.

So he did. He walked over to Anna and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure?" he asked calmly.

Anna jerked away from him. "I'm _fine._" she repeated.

"Okay," he said, backing up. He looked back to Elsa. She shrugged. "I guess, uh, I guess I'll go wait in the dining room."

Once he was out of the kitchen, Elsa strode across the room. "What was that?" she asked, once she was by Anna's side. "You're the one that invited him here. Don't be so rude."

Anna sighed, and placed the knife safely on the counter. "I just don't feel like dealing with him right now."

"Why's that?" Elsa asked, then mentally kicked herself for doing so.

"I don't know," Anna said, turning around to face her older sister. "I mean, I love him, I do. But at the same time, I just… I don't know," she continued, shying away.

"No, no," Elsa said, gently placing a hand on Anna's shoulder, prompting her to face her again. "Come on, you can tell me."

"I don't think I can," said Anna. Elsa's expression fell. "No, it's not that I don't trust you Elsa, because I do, honest," she stammered, trying to reassure her sister. "I mean, I don't think I can explain it."

When all Elsa did in response was nod, Anna kept going. "But I can try," she said, looking over at her shoulder and taking comfort that Elsa's hand still rested there. "I want to be around him. Of course I do, we're a couple. But… things aren't normal. Something's not right. And that's making me not want to be around him, because I feel like once he gets me alone, he's going to tell me something that I don't want to hear. And…" she paused when her voice started to waiver. "I'm scared, Elsa. I'm scared of what's going on, of what it is he would tell me." She shut her eyes tightly and chocked back a sob.

Elsa felt her heart drop so dramatically that she was surprised that no one could hear it fall. "Oh, Anna…" she whispered, placing her free hand on her little sister's cheek, wiping away a tear that never fell. _I need to tell her, now, don't I?_ "Anna, listen…"

"Come on you two, Hilde and Sigvard are waiting," Callan said as she burst through the kitchen doors. The sisters quickly separated and each grabbed two trays of food. Callan took one from Elsa, turned around and left the kitchen just as quickly as she entered. Elsa and Anna followed without saying another word.

* * *

Breakfast went off without a hitch, and no one got sick, so Elsa considered it a success. She smiled as she scanned the table, watching everyone finish their meal. But her smile faded when she saw Anna practically curled into a ball sitting next to Kristoff, as if merely his presence was the bad news she was dreading. The content silence was all of a sudden awkward. She eventually cleared her throat and stood up.

"Everyone, I'd like to thank Anna for having the idea to throw this together for Hilde. We had a blast cooking, or at least trying to," she laughed, and looked down at Anna, who actually smiled back. "And I want to of course thank Hilde, who over the years has done a marvelous job looking after my family. Actually, I don't think I could thank her enough for all that she's done for us. Especially in the past 3 years."

Hilde blushed and shyly waved off Elsa's kind words.

"To Hilde," Elsa said, raising her glass.

"To Hilde!" Kristoff, Sigvard, Anna and Callan repeated, following suit. They all took a healthy swig of juice.

"Thank you, everyone," Hilde smiled, looking around the table. "I'll miss you all so much," she said, this time focusing on Sigvard. He nodded in return.

With that, Callan began collecting plates and taking them into the kitchen. Anna began to follow her, then Elsa panicked, fearing the opportunity Callan would have to say something. Elsa jumped up and grabbed her sister's shoulder. "Anna, she'll be right back out to send Hilde off with us. Let's go to the foyer, okay?" Anna looked confused, but she followed Elsa anyway.

By the time everyone had arrived in the foyer, all of Hilde's things were packed into a carriage, and ready to go. Hilde stood in front of the door, and standing behind her in the shape of a crescent was Callan on the outside left, then Elsa, Kristoff, Anna, and Sigvard on the outside right.

Every so often, Kristoff would glance out of the corner of his eye to Elsa, and he noticed that every couple seconds she would look nervously at Callan, as if she were about to blurt out her secret right then and there.

"Well, I should be off, then," Hilde said quietly. Anna was the first to step forward and give Hilde a big hug.

"Thank you, Hilde, for absolutely everything. I'll miss you," she said, briefly burying her face into Hilde's shoulder before backing out of the hug and returning to her place in the lineup. Kristoff went next.

"You're an incredibly sweet woman, Hilde. I'll sure miss seeing you around." He gave her a small hug.

Callan immediately stepped forward next, as if she wanted to make sure that Elsa didn't make contact with Hilde right after Kristoff did. She took Hilde's hands in hers. "Thank you for teaching me everything you know. Not only about how to be a good maid, but also how to be a kind, honest woman. I'll really miss you," she said, letting go of her hands so she could take her in a hug.

"As will I," Elsa started while Callan and Hilde were still hugging. But she waited longer before continuing. "You are welcome here absolutely anytime, I mean it." She smiled and hugged Hilde longer than anyone else had so far. When she separated, she turned around to face everyone else. "I think we should leave Sigvard to say what he needs to."

They all agreed, and dispersed into different directions. Elsa headed for the dining room, and Kristoff caught up with her. "What was that?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'what was that'? I thought it was nice…"

"Yes, it was very nice. But I was talking about the way you were looking at Callan."

"Oh, you saw that?" she asked sheepishly.

"Yeah. Why are you so afraid of her?"

"Because she has dirt on me, Kristoff!"

"So?" he yelled in a whisper. "You're the Queen! You have authority over her. Who cares about dirt?"

"I care about dirt! Right now, she has the power to ruin me, and she knows it! That's terrifying!" said Elsa.

"I know. But you shouldn't let it show. That's what's making her so confident about knowing. Because she knows you're scared of her." Elsa was silent in thought, so he kept going. "You shouldn't be all 'Oh no Callan, please don't tell Anna! I'll do anything, please!'" he said in a high-pitched, wimpy voice. That one got a chuckle out of Elsa. "You should be more like 'Callan! I am the Queen! And if you so much as speak to Anna, I'll have you locked away!'" he said, this time in a much deeper, gruff voice.

"Oh come on, I don't talk like that," she said with a laugh. "But I get your point. And you're right. Maybe if I show her that it does't bother me that she knows, she'll be less inclined to tell."

"Exactly!" he said. "I have to go now. But remember; big strong scary Queen!" He comically flexed his muscles, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and left.

* * *

Elsa had spent most of the afternoon in her room relaxing and cleaning up a bit. She went through her closet and looked for dresses that she'd want to give to Anna. She set a few aside, then decided to venture downstairs for a glass of water.

_Okay, if Callan's down there, just remember; big strong scary Queen. Big strong scary Queen._ She repeated Kristoff's words to herself in her head. But her mantra didn't work. When she turned the corner to walk down the stairs and saw Callan and Anna sitting at the dining room table chatting over a cup of tea, she froze in her tracks.

"Callan! Anna! What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just having some tea," Anna answered. Elsa shouldn't have been worried, but the look Callan gave her sent her into panic mode.

"Anna I need to talk to you. Alone. Uh, now," she said.

"Can't it wait? I was talking to Callan," Anna said. She turned to Callan and resumed their conversation.

Elsa quickly began trotting down the stairs. When she was about halfway down, Callan opened her mouth to say something. Panicking even more now, Elsa thrust her hand out in Callan's direction, and froze her mouth shut.

"Elsa! What's wrong with you? That was rude, now unfreeze her right now!" Anna scolded, standing up.

"Anna, I really need to talk to you right now," she said, crossing the room and grabbing Anna's arm.

She violently jerked away. "No! I was in the middle of visiting with Callan! Now unfreeze her!"

"Anna please! It's important!"

When Anna saw the seriousness in Elsa's eyes, the anger in hers faded, but only slightly. "Okay."

Hands shaking, Elsa retook Anna's arm and led her out of the dining room, without daring to glance at Callan. She took Anna past the foyer, and they stopped as soon as they entered the family room.

"Okay Elsa what is it? What could be so important that you had to interrupt me simply having a cup of tea and a nice talk with Callan?"

"Anna, there's something I have to tell you." Anna crossed her arms. "Kristoff and I…"

"Kristoff and you what?" Anna said, taking a few steps towards Elsa. Elsa took a step back for every step Anna took. They continued like that until Elsa backed into a wall, and could go no further. Anna had her cornered.

"Kristoff and I…" she started. "Both love you very much!" she finished the sentence quickly, flashing a nervous smile and holding out her arms as if gesturing for a hug.

Anna, arms still crossed, shifted her weight from one hip to the other, obviously not fooled.

"Okay," Elsa exhaled, preparing herself. "Anna, the reason Kristoff has been acting so strangely towards you recently is… well… him and I, we've been…" She paused, trying to find the right way to say it.

Anna looked as if she'd just seen a ghost. "You're joking with me, aren't you? You've got to be. Please tell me you're joking with me."

Elsa cringed knowing that Anna had figured it out. "I wish I were."

"This isn't funny, Elsa. This really isn't funny!" she said, her voice breaking. Elsa lowered her head and looked at the floor somberly, not saying a word. Tears gathering in her eyes, Anna managed to stand in front of her sister for a few more seconds, waiting for her to say something, before she finally took off.

"Anna! Wait!" Elsa yelled, springing into action and running after her.

"Leave me alone!" Anna yelled back between sobs.

"Anna!" Elsa called, chasing her up the stairs. She noticed that Callan was no longer at her seat in the dining room. Elsa caught up with Anna just as she arrived at the door to her room. Anna whipped around and placed a hand firmly on the door.

"Just… _go away!_" she screamed, and slammed the door right in Elsa's face.

That was a first.

* * *

**Sorry updates are taking so long, everyone. I've got a lot of other things going on right now. I'll try to do a better job! Thank you so much for reading! **


	8. Chapter 8

"Anna! Please, open up the door! We need to talk!"

Silence.

"_Anna!_" Elsa cried. She put her hand over her mouth, and wrapped an arm around her stomach. "Anna I'm sorry…" she mumbled, beginning to cry. She turned around and leaned back, her back making an uncomfortable sounding thump when it hit the door. She slid down and sat on the floor, bringing her knees to her chest. She sat there for a few seconds, tears making their way down her face, trying to figure out what to do next.

"This is what I was so afraid of. This is why I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry," she said, having the feeling she was talking to no one in particular. She waited a few more minutes until she was calmed down before she spoke again. "I know you're furious with me, but I'm not leaving until you open up and we talk about this."

And she meant it. Hours had passed, and Elsa was still sitting patiently outside Anna's door in her little fetal position, although now she was resting her head on her knees. Eventually, Callan walked upstairs carrying a pile of laundry. "Your Majesty?" she said, when she noticed the Queen curled up on the floor.

Elsa's head jerked up. She looked around frantically, then her eyes stopped on Callan. "Oh, hi," she said, dejected.

"What's going on?"

Elsa stood up, stretched her legs out, then walked over to Callan. "I told her."

"Oh…" Callan said softly. The two girls stood there in silence for a few moments. "And now what?" she finally said, trying not to come off as nosy.

Elsa motioned to the closed door. "That," she said. "She won't come out. She won't talk to me." She ran her fingers through her hair, then cleared her throat, trying hard not to let herself cry in front of Callan. "I can't blame her, though. I wouldn't want to talk to me either."

"She'll come around, Your Highness," Callan said, offering some level of reassurance, or at least trying to.

"And I'm going to be right here when she does," Elsa said. "I'm not leaving until she'll open the door and talk this out with me. I don't care how long it is. Besides, she has to come out sometime."

Callan nodded. She really wanted to talk about it with Elsa. After all the times Elsa had been there for her, she wanted to return the favor. But she also knew that this was between Elsa and Anna, and given how important her little sister is to her, Elsa wouldn't budge on the matter.

"Well, as long as you're going to be here waiting, give her these when she comes out," Callan said, thrusting the big pile of laundry into Elsa's arms.

"Er, okay," Elsa said, almost immediately losing her balance and dropping the load. Callan turned around to walk away, but Elsa stopped her. "Callan?" she turned around. "Would you send for Kristoff for me?"

"At this hour? I don't think that's such a good idea…"

"I just need to tell him what's going on. And maybe Anna will talk to him."

Callan refrained from scoffing at the thought of Anna wanting to be anywhere near Kristoff right now, let alone talk to him. "Okay, whatever you say."

"Thanks," Elsa said, retaking her place back on the floor outside of Anna's door.

* * *

Even more hours passed, and Anna still hadn't opened the door, and Kristoff still hadn't come. _I bet Callan didn't even send for him. Why would she? She's probably just as furious with me as Anna is. Why would she actually put Kristoff and I together right now? _Elsa thought. But her train of thought was interrupted when Anna finally opened the door.

Elsa gasped as she fell backwards, hitting the floor with a grunt, and spilling the laundry everywhere. Anna scoffed and rolled her eyes at the sight of her older sister lying on the floor.

"Anna!" Elsa said, scrambling to stand up, leaving the laundry where it fell. Although it was getting dark, Elsa could see that Anna's eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"I honestly didn't think you'd still be out there," Anna said dryly. But Elsa smiled, taking pure joy in the fact that Anna would talk to her, that her sister wasn't too far gone. But her smile faded when Anna began to shut the door again.

"No, Anna, wait!" Elsa said, pushing on the door to keep it open. Just then, Kristoff came running down the hall and met the girls at the door.

"Sorry it took me so long, but I'm here," he panted. "I'm here."

"Ugh!" Anna groaned, trying to shut the door again.

"Anna!" Elsa pleaded, pushing harder on the door.

"What, Elsa?" Anna yelled, flinging the door wide open. "What could you possibly have to say to me to justify this?"

"I'm sorry, Anna! I'm so sorry. I should have told you when this all started," she said, taking a few steps into the room, rapidly searching her brain for something else to say.

"When it all started?" Anna yelled. "How long has this been going on? You know what, never mind. I don't want to know. But you say you should have told me when it started happening? How about why on Earth would you even do this to me?" she shouted.

"We did not do this to hurt you, Anna," Kristoff butted in.

"_Shut up!_" Anna yelled at Kristoff. She turned back to Elsa. "And you. How could you do this to me? After everything we've been through… this is how you capitalize on that?" She paused, actually hoping Elsa would say something. "You would think that it got old, or that I got used to it. You know, knocking on your door every single day for thirteen years and having you not open it every time.

"Don't even bring all of that up, Anna. The past is in the past, we agreed on that! You can't hold that over me like that!" Elsa said.

"_Shut up!_" she repeated, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "But that wasn't the case. Every time you wouldn't open up, every time you refused to spend time with me, it was a brand new hurt. It was a brand new knife being plunged into my back. And after the Great Thaw, after we reconciled, you actually managed to pull all of those knives out. Everything was the way it always should have been. But now? Going behind my back like this? Knowing for so long that you should have told me, and not telling me? You just pushed thirteen years worth of knives back in. Plus a brand new one, just for the occasion."

By the time Anna had got to the end of her rant, both her and Elsa were in tears. "Anna, I…" she started to say.

"I was just beginning to trust you, Elsa! I finally had the happy relationship with my sister that I had always dreamed about! How could you _do_ this to me? What the _hell_, Elsa?"

Elsa had her mouth hung open, at a total loss for words. _I hadn't even thought of it that way…_ She just shook her head.

"Get out. Both of you," Anna said, pushing Elsa out the door.

"Anna wait!"

"Oh, and Elsa? Do me a favor, and don't talk to me for another thirteen years." And with that, Anna slammed the door harder than she had the first time.

Elsa and Kristoff stood outside of Anna's door, completely silent. Kristoff quickly placed his hands on Elsa's shoulders when he noticed them trembling violently.

"God, Kristoff. What have we done?" she said, her voice as shaky as her shoulders.

He started rubbing her arms, and found that she was ice cold. Colder than usual. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her from behind. The more she shook, the colder it got. Kristoff's mind raced, trying to think of a way to calm her down before she started a full on blizzard right there in the hallway.

"You know what the worst part is?" she said. "She didn't even get mad at you. She didn't seem to care the least bit that you had betrayed her too, because she's so upset that I did. She looked up to me and trusted me so much, and I… I ruined it." She turned around to face him, and broke down. "She hates me, Kristoff. She hates me," she sobbed into his chest.

He held her even tighter, his hands rising and falling along with her back as she continued to snivel and whimper. "It'll be okay," he said, letting a few moments pass first.

"Kristoff?" she sniffled, asking after a few seconds.

"Hm?"

"Does this change things between us?"

He thought for a long moment. "Well, I don't know what kind of a person it makes me, but no, it does't change the way I feel about you." He paused again. "Does it change the way you feel about me?

"I mean, it shouldn't, but…"

"It does," he finished her sentence, letting go of her.

"Now wait," she said, grabbing his shirt, afraid that he would leave. "I'm just really conflicted right now. I can't think straight. I just wanted to ask you."

_But you can't answer the simple yes or no question yourself?_ he thought. "I understand," he said. Another painfully long pause. "Well, you've had a lot thrown at you today, and it's really late. I think I'll be going so you can get some rest," he added, prying her hands from his shirt.

"Are you sure? It's not safe for you to travel home at this hour. Maybe you should just stay here."

He debated his options. _Stay here? Where would I sleep? With… with Elsa? _"Where would I even sleep?" he asked out loud. But he stammered and waved off his own question before Elsa could answer. "No, never mind. Forget it. It wouldn't be very appropriate, given the circumstances. I'll just go."

"Kristoff."

"I'll be fine," he smiled. "I'll come back tomorrow morning, okay?" He took a few steps down the hall, but Elsa caught up with him before he got very far.

"Kristoff please, just stay," she said, putting her hand on his back, prompting him to turn around. "I'm really worn out, and I'm really upset, and… I need you. I really don't want to be alone right now."

"Elsa," he said, taking her hands. "Any other given night if you would ask me to stay, I would. But tonight is far from the right time." He looked into her eyes, and his heart both fluttered and sank at what he saw. Even though it was dark, he could still see how beautifully bright blue her eyes were. He could also see the tiny gleam of tears, which seemed to have taken residency in the corners of her eyes. "I will be back tomorrow morning, I promise," he said. He kissed her on her forehead, then he left.

* * *

Kristoff's mind was racing on his walk home. _I should have stayed. She said she needed me. I'm such an idiot. I should be there for her. I should have stayed._

_ But what would have happened if I did stay? Would we have stayed up and talked? Would we have gone to bed? Together? What then?_

_ We probably would have gotten all snuggled up under the covers. I would have put my arm around her, and she probably would have gotten even closer, maybe even laid her head down on my chest. Then I would have kissed her on the top of her head. She'd look up at me, I'd look down at her, then I'd kiss her again, this time on the lips. Then I'd kiss her neck. Mmm. Maybe twice. Then I bet she'd…_

"Gah, snap out of it, Kristoff!" he said to himself, wiping his now sweaty palms on his shirt. "That's the last thing you should be thinking about! What's wrong with you?"

He jogged the rest of the way back to his home, a cozy little cottage right in the middle of the village, and shut himself inside. He paced around for a few minutes before finally settling into bed and drifting off.

* * *

Elsa stood in the hallway a little while longer debating whether or not to spend the night outside of Anna's door, just in case she opened up again, or to go back to her own room. She eventually decided on going to her room, although she didn't even try to go to sleep. She did lay down in bed, but the rest of the night was full of tossing and turning, and thinking about what the next day would bring.

Morning came slowly, and was rainy and chilly. Elsa, who had been wide awake all through the night anyway, changed into a different dress, placed her crown delicately on her once again perfectly styled hair, and trudged downstairs. She found Callan sitting at the dining room table with a cup of tea, and decided to join her.

"Good morning," she said groggily, slinking into the chair beside Callan.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Callan said, pretending not to notice how out of sorts Elsa was. "Would you like some tea?"

"Please."

Callan disappeared into the kitchen for a few seconds, then came back out with a teapot and a teacup balanced on a lovely pewter tray. She placed the tray on the table between their seats, poured Elsa a cup, and sat back down.

"Thank you, Callan," Elsa said, wrapping her hands around the warm teacup. "Kind of a dreary day, isn't it?"

"It is. You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that, would you?"

"Oh, I don't think so." She paused. "Maybe."

Callan chuckled and took a sip of tea. She spent a few silent moments in thought, then finally spoke up. "Is there anything I can do to…"

"No," Elsa stopped her. "There's nothing anyone can do. I messed up, and now this is what I get." Callan nodded and brought her teacup up to her mouth, without taking a sip. "Callan?" Elsa continued.

"What is it?"

"Thank you for not telling her."

"I hadn't planned on it," Callan said.

Elsa furrowed her brow. "Why not? I mean, what do you mean?"

Callan turned in her chair to face Elsa. "Elsa, er, I mean Your-" Elsa shook her head, stopping Callan from correcting herself. "Elsa," Callan repeated cautiously, waiting for Elsa's approval before continuing. Elsa nodded, so Callan went on. "I trusted you with my biggest secret. My only one, actually. But anyway, even though I didn't exactly feel right doing it, it was only right that I kept your biggest secret, too. I placed my trust in you, so I made sure that you could place your trust in me."

"Wow, Callan. Thank you. That was sweet of you," Elsa responded after a few moments. "So, you're not mad at me, then?"

"No," Callan said, "not mad. Disappointed, sure. But not mad. I don't think I have the right to be mad."

Elsa lowered her head, and took a sip of tea. "I'm sorry you're disappointed in me."

"I'm not sure how to respond to that," Callan laughed.

Elsa managed a smile and looked back up. "Don't worry, you don't have to."

Just then, Anna had begun to trot down the stairs. But seeing Elsa already in the dining room, she quickly turned around and tried to make her way back upstairs.

"Anna, wait!" Elsa said, leaving the table and taking a couple steps towards the staircase. Anna wouldn't stop, and Elsa sprung into action, flicking her wrists and freezing Anna's feet and ankles to the stairs.

"Hey!" Anna yelled, trying to break free. Elsa could feel her hold on the ice wavering, with all of Anna's squirming, so she clenched her fist, adding more ice. "Ouch! Elsa, that hurts!"

Elsa ran partially up the stairs and stopped on the step above where Anna was frozen to the ground, and turned around to face her sister. "Come on, Anna, please just talk this out with me."

Anna slapped Elsa square in the face.

"Okay, I deserved that one," Elsa said, rubbing the red mark that was left on her cheek. "But now can we-"

"Give it a rest, Elsa! I don't want to talk to you!" Anna paused, realizing that despite what she had just said, she had just spoken to her sister. "Dang it."

"Okay, if you don't want to talk to me, then listen. I'm sorry, Anna. I didn't mean for all of this to escalate like this. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, you did, Elsa. And I know you didn't mean to. You never mean to do these things. But you always do. You didn't mean to shut me out when we were kids, but you did. You didn't mean to freeze my heart and almost _kill_ me, but you did. And, of course you didn't mean to hurt me. But guess what. You did."

"Anna! _Stop_ with all of this about our childhood! We moved past that! You cannot keep holding that over me! Look, I know you're very upset with Kristoff and I, but our past has absolutely nothing to do with this. You can't use that to add to your anger!"

"Well how else am I supposed to deal with this? I hate thinking about it, let alone talking about it!"

"I do too, Anna! I hate all of this! And if I could take this all away, if I could go back and take all of this back, I would!"

"You would?" Elsa looked over Anna's shoulder and saw Kristoff standing at the bottom of the staircase. With all of the yelling, no one had heard him come in, and no one had noticed him standing there.

"Kristoff…" said Elsa. She looked at Anna, back at Kristoff, then back at Anna again. Her sister was looking at the floor, trying not to let Elsa see how Kristoff's presence affected her. Elsa had noticed anyway, sighed, and unfroze her ankles. Anna ran to the top of the stairs, then stopped and peeked over her shoulder, almost hoping that Elsa would chase after her instead of Kristoff, who had also walked away.

Elsa was still looking where Kristoff had been standing, then she turned to look at her sister. Anna made sure she made slight eye contact with her older sister before turning down the hall and heading for her room.

Elsa sighed and went after Kristoff, figuring she had bothered Anna enough for one morning. She descended the stairway and turned the corner into the foyer, then walked into the family room, and found Kristoff standing in front of the fireplace with his hands in his pockets.

"Kristoff," she said, walking over and standing behind him.

"You'd take it all back, huh?" he said. "I was right, then. All of this did change the way you feel about me."

"No, Kristoff, it didn't. When I said that to Anna, I didn't mean-"

"You didn't mean it? So you're lying to her?" he asked. He still hadn't turned around.

"No! I'm just saying I didn't mean it like-"

"So if you're not lying to her, then you're lying to me."

"Kristoff, I'm not lying to anybody! I'm trying to explain to you-"

He whipped around, finally facing her. "Explain to me what? That one second we're in this mess together, then the next you'll say anything to Anna to get her back on your side? That one night you say that you need me, then the next morning you say you'd take it all back?" he yelled.

Elsa stared back at him, slightly in shock. He had never yelled at her before.

"Oh," he said, softening his stance and his tone when he noticed how frightened she looked. "Elsa, look. I'm sorry I yelled." He cleared his throat. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked softly, not sure whether she was mad or hurt that Kristoff had yelled at her.

"I love you."

Elsa blinked a few times, not saying anything.

"I love you," he repeated, not so much expecting a response, but more just making sure that he had said it.

"Kristoff," she started. "I really like you, and I care about you so much, you know that." Kristoff nodded. "But you have to understand, Anna is the most important thing to me, and my relationship with her is my top priority."

"I do understand that, I do," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "And I know that things are really rocky between you two right now, which is really worrying you, and causing you to not think straight, like you told me last night. But I can't play these games. You know, all of your going back and forth between Anna and I, and all this stuff you're telling me about how you need me, or how you'd take it all back. And I just wanted to tell you that I love you, and I want you to think about maybe whether or not you might love me too. And whenever you're ready to answer me-"

"Wait, what? 'Play these games?' Kristoff!" she said. "You just said that you understand what's going through my mind, and yet you're adding to it?" she yelled. "Why would you even do that? You _know_ how stressed out I am right now! Are you seriously trying to make me choose between you and Anna?" Snow started to blow around the room. "I am not playing games with you! I can assure you, I am genuinely having a very tough time right now. Especially with thinking about how in the world I'm supposed to fix all of this!" The small cloud of snow and wind picked up, and the temperature dropped. "So thank you, for being so insensitive, and making the whole situation worse. But sure, Kristoff, when I make my decision and I'm ready to answer you, I'll let you know." She turned around and stormed off, cloaked in a small blizzard, leaving a trail of snow and ice behind her.

Kristoff sighed. "So in other words, when I wake up with ten feet of snow on top of my house tomorrow morning, I shouldn't be surprised," he said to himself. He put his hands back into his pockets, and showed himself to the door.

* * *

**To answer someone's question about the M rating, it probably doesn't actually need to be rated M. I pretty much just used that rating to be safe, because I honestly didn't even know what I was getting into when I started to write this. Sorry if there's any disappointment... but as always, Thanks, everyone, for reading! Tell your friends!**


	9. Chapter 9

Callan had retreated to the kitchen after Anna had slapped Elsa. She didn't want to be around for the inevitable fight, and she surely didn't want to get caught in the middle. She hid until the shouting stopped, and she assumed it was safe to come out. Just as she was reentering the dining room, Kristoff was shutting the door behind him. She debated stopping him to ask what he was doing there in the first place, but she had never exactly talked to him before, and she didn't want to spring a potentially serious conversation on him all of a sudden.

She had no clue what had went on, but all curiosity was quickly replaced by alarm when she heard things breaking and glass shattering, and it sounded like it was coming from right above her.

She gasped and darted up the stairs, a thousand scenarios instantly racing through her head. She looked down both ends of the hallway. To the left, the side with Anna's room, everything looked normal. But to the right, she saw tips of icicles sticking out of Elsa's closed bedroom door, so she quickly decided to head that way.

She sprinted down the hall and flung the door open, and found Elsa kneeling on the floor, hands clenched into fists and held near her temples. There were jagged ice spears violently jutting out of her back, like stalagmites on the floor of a cave.

"Elsa!" she yelled, running over and kneeling down beside her. She looked around the room and saw that almost everything in Elsa's room was broken. An icicle had gone right through the oil lamp, and there were more stuck into the backing of her mirror, shattered glass littering the floor. Sharp icicles were jammed into the walls, the doors, and just about everything else, like darts on a dartboard.

"Elsa!" she repeated, unclenching Elsa's hands and taking them in hers. "Elsa, are you okay?" Elsa tightly gripped Callan's hands, wincing as the ice crystals sprouting from her back grew taller. Callan looked over Elsa's shoulder at her back. The ice tore her dress, but not her skin. The frozen pillars looked like they were a part of Elsa. Daunting, unfortunate growths. "Are you hurt?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"No, I'm just so _frustrated!_" Elsa yelled, a few chunks of ice shooting from her back and landing solidly into the wall. Callan flinched at the noise they made.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Callan said, after she herself had calmed down after the frightening display. Callan had never witnessed Elsa's powers at this level. And although she was admittedly fascinated with Elsa's powers, right now she could tell that something was causing Elsa to lose control of them, and she was concerned for both of their well-beings. "You're fine, it's okay, everything's okay," she tried to reassure mostly Elsa, but also herself.

"Everything's _not_ okay!" Elsa shouted, jerking her hands away from Callan's, a fierce, frigid wind now gusting through the room. Elsa struggled to get up off of her knees, then spun around to face the other way, unintentionally sending an icicle shooting from her back, and whirring right past Callan's head.

Callan gasped and ducked, rolled a couple of times towards the door, then swiftly stood back up. She was honestly terrified, and half tempted to run back to the safety of her own room. But noticing that tiny icicles were now forming on Elsa's arms, she instead ran towards the Queen.

"Elsa, stop! Snap out of it!" she yelled over the wind. She gently placed her hands on Elsa's face, but quickly recoiled when she felt how frigidly cold to the touch Elsa was.

"How dare he!" Elsa shouted, taking a step back and gripping her hair. Snow and hail began to blow around along with the wind.

Callan hesitated, puzzled by Elsa's vague outburst. _What is she talking about? Kristoff?_ She thought to herself. _I swear, if he hurt her… _"How dare he what? What did he do to you?" she asked, not at all buffeted by the small hail pellets or swirling snow.

"How dare he come into my castle and tell me what to do, or what to choose! How _dare_ he!" she yelled again, placing a hand on her chest. "That stupid, stupid boy!" As she yelled, the snow and wind would pick up in particularly strong waves, then die back down slightly. "How dare he tell me…" she began. But she stopped there, and so did the hail.

"Tell you what, Elsa?" Callan inquired.

"Or at a time like this, when everything is falling apart from under me, how could he really tell me to think about whether or not I might…" Elsa continued, calming down slightly, the wind calming along with her.

"That you might what? What's going on?" Callan asked, more out of concern than curiosity. What was left of the wind subsided, and the mini icicles fell off of Elsa's arms, clinking lightly as they hit the floor.

"The nerve of him… to just stand there and make everything more complicated," Elsa said, grinding her teeth. She stood silent for a moment, actually thinking over what Kristoff had said to her. Then the snow, which had been reduced to just a flurry once the wind had stopped, had also come to an end. "I just… can't even comprehend all of this right now. Too much is happening to me. It's all just too much," she continued, much calmer. She relaxed her shoulders, and the spears of ice fell from her back, thumping loudly and breaking into pieces upon hitting the floor.

Figuring it was safe now, Callan approached the Queen once again, slowly. "Elsa, what happened?"

Elsa looked around her room, and her expression was one of exhaustion and fear, as if she wasn't the thing that had destroyed her own room, and that whatever did was still on the loose. "Nothing," she finally said, sounding completely worn out. "Don't worry about it."

"Elsa, you can't expect me to witness something like that come over you and not worry about it."

"I said don't worry about it, Callan. Why don't you go check on Anna or something?"

Callan decided not to argue, especially when her opposition was in the state of mind that she was in. Instead she nodded, and backed out of the room, shutting the ice-pierced door behind her. She did what she was told, and made her way down to the other end of the hall to Anna's room.

* * *

Anna had heard everything happen. She heard every _thunk_ of an icicle making contact with a wall, every glass object break, and even the howling of the wind. And with every noise made, she took one step closer to her bedroom door, so close at one point that she had her hand on the doorknob. But now, she just sat on her bed.

It killed her to not run down the hall and see what was happening to Elsa, but as worried as she was, and as much as it hurt, she decided that it was more important to keep up her resilient front and keep avoiding her sister. Now, more than anything, she wished she hadn't. Now that the noises stopped, she was even more concerned. But she elected to wait just a few more minutes, just in case Elsa would come to her door first. She sprung off of her bed and sprinted to the door when she heard a knock.

Callan smiled sheepishly when Anna flung the door open. "It's just me," she said. Anna tried not to seem too disappointed, and took a step back so Callan could come in. Callan looked around Anna's room, appreciating that nothing was broken or hazardous.

"Is she okay?" Anna asked, her head peeking out the door in the direction of Elsa's room. She knew Callan had been in there, or at least she assumed so. She figured that since Callan had no defiant facade to support, she would run right to Elsa's side. _Something I should have done,_ she thought.

Callan sighed, prompting Anna to turn her head so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. "She says she's fine."

"Seriously?" Anna said in disbelief, taking a few steps towards Callan. "Then what was all that? What happened in there?"

Callan shrugged her shoulders and held them there, opening her mouth to say something, but not finding the words to explain it. "She was freaking out," she finally said. "She was… I can't even think of how to say it. It was really intense. I was actually scared."

"Oh, Callan," Anna said in a reassuring tone, walking over and placing a hand on Callan's shoulder. "You didn't have to be scared. It was just Elsa."

"Yeah, but," Callan paused, still having a hard time retelling what she saw. She sighed. "Anyway, she was freaking out. More like going on a rampage, almost. Just about everything in her room is toast. She destroyed it all."

"How?" Anna asked, alarmed, removing her hand from Callan's shoulder and bringing it to her chest along with her other hand.

"With her powers! I walk in, and I see icicles everywhere. Laying on the ground alongside broken glass, stuck in the walls, the doors, you name it. She was shooting them everywhere. They were coming from her back."

"Her back?" Anna asked, perplexed. "She always uses her hands to use her powers. She keeps perfect control of them that way."

"I don't think she had much control over them. After I saw the icicles I saw her kneeling in the center of the room, she had this, like, death grip on her head. It was like she had a really bad headache or something. And there were these sharp ice spears sprouting from her back. This is the only way I can think to describe it, but in all seriousness, she looked like an icy porcupine,"

Anna's expression was one of disbelief as Callan explained what she had seen. She brought one hand up to her mouth and shook her head.

"I asked if she was hurt, and she said no. She said that she was just so frustrated. I tried to calm her down, but ironically that seemed to make things worse. She started saying something about Kristoff, or at least I assume that's who she meant when she said 'How dare he'," Callan continued.

"Wait, what? How dare he what? What did he do to her?" Anna said, now angry.

Callan put her hands up, theoretically telling Anna not to shoot the messenger. "I asked, and she said something about coming into her castle and telling her what to choose."

Anna furrowed her brow and cocked her head, thinking of all the possible things that Kristoff could've said to set Elsa off. "What to choose? What do you suppose that means?"

"I don't know. She said that everything's falling apart from under her, and he just stood there and made things more complicated. She said it's all just too much."

"Elsa…" said Anna, after a small pause to take in all of the information Callan had provided.

Callan gave Anna a few more minutes to sort through her thoughts before speaking again. She could tell that Anna was having a hard time with all of this, for whatever reason. "But she's okay. She's not hurt. All of the ice fell off of her."

"She may say she's okay, but she's not okay. Trust me, I'd know. We've been through this before. Or something similar, at least." Anna paused. "I should have gone in there to check on her. Maybe there's something I could have done…" Anna trudged to her bed and plopped down, crestfallen. "I should have been there for her." She hung her head.

Callan sat down beside her. "She told me not to worry about it, if that's any consolation."

"It's not," Anna blurted. "I'm sorry," she said, fearing that she had offended Callan. "It's just, I didn't know how much _she_ was hurting from all of this. Here I thought this was my problem. I feel so stupid."

"Well don't," Callan told her, placing a hand on Anna's back, but quickly removing it. "You're upset, I get that. Elsa gets that. It's okay." Anna didn't say anything in response, but instead leaned forward and balanced her elbows on her knees, and covered her face with her hands. "Princess Anna," Callan continued. "How are you doing? You know, considering the situation."

Much more open and trusting than her sister, obviously, Anna immediately broke down. "I'm broken, Callan," she sobbed into her hands. "I'm broken. I loved Kristoff, and I thought he loved me. Do you know what that's like?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "It's the worst. It twists your insides all around. It makes you sick," she continued between tears. "It turns your heart to…"

"Ice?" Callan guessed. Anna shook her head, although Callan could barely tell.

Anna sniffled unattractively. Callan didn't mind. "I can't even describe how much it _hurts_. I pictured a future with him, Callan. And I thought he maybe pictured a future with me too. But the whole time I'm over here thinking he loved me back, he's sneaking around. With _Elsa_, of all people." Surprisingly, she got through that without a single tear falling. "It almost feels like a terrible dream," she went on, her voice beginning to waver again. "But then I open my eyes, and this pain in my chest, this stupid, throbbing pain, remind me that it's all real. That Kristoff… after all we've been through together, really doesn't love me," she concluded, bursting into tears again.

Callan put a hand on Anna's back again, and kept it there this time, gently rubbing between the girl's shoulders while she cried. Callan thought it best to not say anything. It's not like she had anything to say to that, anyway.

"And the worst part is," Anna said after a few moments, "I mean, of course I'm beyond mad at him, and in a way I absolutely hate him. But if he would happen to say that this was all a mistake, and he really did love me, I'd run back into his arms so fast…"

"Princess, it's only been a couple of days. It's only natural that you feel that way."

"But I don't _want_ to feel that way! Especially now that he's done something to hurt Elsa, too. I can't feel that way." Anna paused to sniffle a few times. "Would you mind fixing me a snack?" she said.

Callan chuckled lightly and stood up. "Of course not, Your Highness. What would you like?"

"Anything. Everything," Anna replied, curling up into a ball on her bed. Her voice was still slightly shaky.

"Coming right up," Callan said with a bow.

* * *

Callan had been constantly running snacks up to Anna all day. Just as soon as she was finished serving her one thing and made her way back down to the kitchen, she would hear Anna yell for her again, and back up she went. She was running out of things to bring to her! Between one of her trips, she stopped by to check on Elsa.

"Your Majesty?" she said cautiously, softly knocking on the door. Elsa mumbled something inaudible, and Callan took that as a cue to enter, whether or not it actually was. "Your Majesty?" she repeated once she had shut the door behind her.

"What, Callan?" Elsa answered from inside the blanket cocoon she had built for herself.

"Just checking in. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine."

"Do you want me to fix you something? You haven't eaten all day."

"I'm fine."

"Elsa, come on. You have to eat something," Callan said, quickly realizing that she wasn't exactly the right person to scold someone for not eating. "Let me bring you some grapes or something." Elsa didn't answer. Callan walked over and found a place on Elsa's bed where she could sit without sitting on her. "Elsa,"

"I don't feel like eating, okay?" she said, her voice muffled by the blankets, but still distinctly irritated. "You of all people should know what that's like," she went on, changing her tone as to not sound degrading. "So don't even give me any grief about this."

"Elsa, I stopped eating because I saw something about myself that I didn't like. I stopped eating to change the way I looked, not the way I felt." Once again Elsa didn't answer, so Callan knew that she was listening. "This is not the same situation by any means. Now, what would you like for me to fix you?"

"Nothing, Callan." She paused. "It's not a big deal. I bet Anna's not eating either."

"Oh she's eating, alright," Callan said. "Too much, actually."

"It balances out then."

"That's not how it works, Elsa."

"It can be."

"I'm not letting you do this. I'm bringing you something to eat, and you're going to eat it, whether you like it or not."

"_Callan!_" Anna shouted from down the hall. Callan sighed.

"Right after I take something to Princess Anna. Again."

* * *

It took longer for Callan to return than Elsa thought it would. But when she finally knocked on the door and let herself in, she was carrying a covered tray, and had a towel draped over her arm. Elsa, who was peeking ever so slightly out of her blanket cocoon, furrowed her brow.

"I'm back," Callan said, setting the tray on Elsa's bedside table. "Sorry it took so long."

"It's fine," Elsa mumbled. "But I told you, I'm not eating anything. I don't feel like it." Her stomach grumbled, contradicting her words. She shut her eyes tight, knowing she'd been defeated.

"Right," Callan laughed, flashing a victorious smile. Elsa rolled her eyes and sat up. "Again, sorry it took so long," Callan said, placing the tray on Elsa's lap, then sitting down beside her. "Anna had me run to Birgiton's shop for her latest snack. A bag of caramel and pecan filled chocolates."

Elsa's eyes widened. "She better not eat that whole thing by herself all at once," she said, going into Big Sister Mode.

Callan found it adorable how much Elsa cared for Anna. She smiled as she went on. "Anyway, I brought you something a little more practical." She lifted the lid off of the tray, revealing a hunk of cheese, some of which had already been cut into cubes, and a few bunches of grapes. There was also a small cup of hot cocoa. Callan looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Elsa's mouth lift into a small smirk.

"Wow, this looks great. And thanks for the cocoa, you didn't have to do that."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Callan said, staying seated. "So, how are you doing?" she asked, a more serious tone to her voice.

"Tired," Elsa answered. "That little exhibition took a lot out of me."

"Yeah, what was that all about?"

Elsa picked up a grape, and looked it over. "Just showing off," she said, popping the grape into her mouth.

"Elsa," Callan said, clearly not convinced.

"What?" Elsa blushed, trying to think up another plausible reason. "If I don't let it go every now and again, it all builds up inside of me, then something worse than even that could happen."

Throughout the period of time when she was keeping secrets from Anna, Elsa had gotten to be such a good liar that at times she even convinced herself that she was telling the truth, a habit she resolved to break after this whole mess cleared up.

That seemed plausible, and for a minute Callan thought Elsa might be telling the truth. And in a way, she was. Her powers can be a lot to handle at times. But Callan still knew that there was more to the story, and as much as she wanted to keep prodding, something was telling her not to.

"I see," she said. "Well we wouldn't want that."

Elsa ate a couple more grapes, then switched to the cheese cubes. "So Anna's been cleaning out the palace's pantry, huh?" she said lightheartedly. She studied her tray of food, then decided on trying a grape and a cheese cube together. Her face lit up, and she ate the combination again.

"Yeah," Callan said. "She's had me running up and down the stairs all day. She's some sort of bottomless pit today, I tell you!"

Elsa laughed at Callan's comment, then got serious. "Is she okay?"

Callan paused. "Not really." She realized the bluntness of her answer may have hurt Elsa's feelings, so she changed her tone slightly. "She's upset about a lot of things."

"Gotcha," Elsa said, clearly sorry she asked.

"I think she might be on the upswing now, though."

Elsa chuckled. "Okay." She was just as unconvinced of the statement as Callan was of her earlier one.

"I mean it," Callan said, sitting up a little straighter. And she did. Callan had noticed that when she was listening to Anna, she spoke mostly of her mixed feelings towards Kristoff, and didn't mention being mad at Elsa. And while that may not have meant anything, it could have meant a great deal to Elsa.

"We'll see, I guess," Elsa said, twirling a bare grape stem around.

"Well, I better go check on her. You know, make sure she didn't eat all of that chocolate by herself," Callan said with a smile after a few seconds of silence. She patted herself on the knees and stood up. "I'll leave the tray in here, so you can go ahead and keep working on those grapes, okay?"

"Will do," Elsa said, raising a full stem, then lowering it into her mouth.

Callan left Elsa's room, then made her way down to the opposite end of the hall to Anna's. She knocked, and let herself in. "Me again." Anna nodded in acknowledgement, then sluggishly took a chocolate out of the bag, which Callan noticed was about half emptied. "Princess, you really ate all of those?"

Anna nodded. "Yes," she groaned. "But I'm running out of steam. Do you want any?"

"No, thanks."

Anna shrugged, and ate the chocolate. "I'll save the rest for later, then. I'm done."

"Is there anything else I can get for you, Your Highness?" Callan asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"Just some water, I think, and then I'll be fine for the night, thank you."

Callan exhaled a quiet sigh of relief, and nodded. She did as she was told, bringing Anna a glass and pitcher of water. Then she walked back downstairs for the final time that day, and settled into her own room. "What a day," she mumbled to herself, falling into her bed.

Everyone was drifting off, and for the first time in a long time, the palace was peaceful, and quiet, and calm.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the middle of the night, and the castle was still very tranquil. There was a calm, serene sensation in the air, the kind only apparent on the night after a series of arguments, heartbreak, and moments of pure tension and guilt. But tonight, there were no fights, and there were no tears. The palace itself seemed to relax its figurative muscles, and breathe a sigh of relief.

Callan was out like a light, completely tuckered out from her day of running up and down stairs, and all throughout town, tending to Anna. She conked out easily, still in her day clothes, but still fell into a deep slumber, not at all worried about it.

Elsa had a little bit of trouble falling asleep at first. She had been thinking about all the events of the day. She had actually given some hard thought into her conversation with Kristoff, including why exactly she reacted so drastically. His disclosure of his feelings had honestly kind of shocked her, but when anger replaced shock and she lost control of her powers, how she really felt in return had become the last thing on her mind.

She tried her hardest to think it over, but her thoughts kept trailing back to her little sister. She rethought their shouting match earlier that day, and then remembered what Callan had told her about Anna being on the upswing. She analyzed every detail about how Anna had acted towards her today, and she was almost starting to believe what Callan said. But as much as she needed to keep sorting through her thoughts, sleep finally took over.

With a stomach more than full of food, Anna quickly fell asleep. After she had poured herself a couple glasses of water from the pitcher that Callan had brought her, she rolled over lethargically, dozed off in no time, and was sleeping soundly. But all of a sudden, she jerked awake, and sat up with start.

"Oh my," she said to her empty room, grabbing her stomach. "Oh man, that really hurts." She poured herself another glass of water, and took a sip. She sighed, and rolled back into bed, trying to ignore the twisting pain and cramps rippling through her stomach.

_Okay, so this is what I get for eating so much today. Especially all of those chocolates. Ugh, why did I do that? I guess I'm an emotional eater, huh? _

She was thinking to herself, trying to take her mind off of her stomach ache, hoping that in some manner it would help.

_Wow, my stomach really hurts. I can't even remember the last time it's hurt this bad. No wait, yes I do. It was on my thirteenth birthday, I think. Yes, that's right, I remember now. I ate one too many pieces of my triple chocolate cake. I still can't believe Mother even let Hilde make something that deliciously terrible. _Anna smiled at the memory, then winced in pain. _Oh goodness. Ah, ouch. Ouch! … Okay, it subsided for now. I think I can sleep it off. So if I can just fall asleep, I think I'll be fi-_

"Ah!" she grunted, sitting up again. "This is really bad," she said through gritted teeth. She gripped her stomach, and started taking some deep breaths. "Not cool, stomach. Not cool," she said as another wave of pain came. At this point her fingernails were digging into her abdomen, which wasn't helping.

"What should I do?" she wondered out loud. _What did I do to get over it on my birthday? That was so long ago… _

_ Oh, that's right. Mother rubbed my back. We stayed up all night and talked, and sang songs, and told stories, and she rubbed my back. For some reason that always helped. I guess because it was so relaxing. But… we can't exactly do that anymore._

A single tear made it's way down her cheek, although she wasn't sure whether it was from the most recent influx of soreness, or from the mournful recollection of such a happy memory with her mother.

"Ouch! Ah, ow," she griped, now beginning to shake. "Ugh, what do I do?" _I shouldn't wake Callan. I've bothered her so much already today. Well, yesterday, I suppose. I guess there's Elsa… but we're still fighting. Aren't we? So maybe I shouldn't-_

"Gah! Oh gosh. It's getting worse," she winced. _Should I go get Elsa? No, I can't. It'd be too awkward. Things are still weird between us. But my stomach hurts so bad! I obviously don't know how to deal with this myself. But I can't go running to her when I'm supposed to be mad at her. _Another painful swell. "Ah! Ow, ow, okay! Okay, I'll go get Elsa! Goodness!" She stood up slowly, careful not to put any unnecessary pressure on her belly. _Wait, did I just talk to my stomach?_ She shook her head, dismissing the thought.

She staggered out of her room, still trembling, and hunched over with her arms draped protectively over her stomach. Her stance reminded her of the one she held when her heart almost froze. When she was dragging herself across the frozen fjord, trying to make her way to Kristoff. She sighed heavily at the memory. Then she thought a little deeper on what happened that day. When it came down to it, she chose Elsa over Kristoff. She chose Elsa over herself.

By the time she was done replaying the scenario in her head, she was at Elsa's door. The ice spears from her earlier incident had melted long ago, but there were still holes in the door. Telltale signs that Elsa had lost control. The thought made Anna shudder. She brought one of her hands up to knock on the door, then changed her mind, opening the door herself and walking in, whether she was welcome to or not. She muddled across the room and stood by Elsa's bed, taking a brief moment to look at her older sister, who was sleeping so peacefully.

"Psst, Elsa," she finally whispered. No answer. "Psst. Elsa." Elsa squirmed a little, but didn't wake up. "Elsa," she said a little louder, this time reaching down and gently shaking her.

Elsa's eyes shot open. She gasped, and snapped to an upright position, causing a small burst of snow to fall. She looked around frantically once the snow stopped. "Anna!" She swung her legs off the side of her bed. "What are you doing up at this hour?" she yawned, stretching rather gracefully.

"My stomach hurts," Anna answered. She was hoping that Elsa would somehow know what to do. Anna never really imagined Elsa having a bad stomach ache, or their Mother tending to her the way she did with Anna. She stood there, almost nervous, waiting for Elsa to say something.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Elsa said after a few seconds, slightly confused by Anna's vague statement.

"It hurts… really badly. And I was wondering if-"

Elsa stood up. "Like Mother used to do? Of course." She smiled sleepily, and motioned for Anna to lead the way back to her room.

* * *

Anna sat down on the edge of her bed, hands placed politely in her lap, and her head hung slightly. Her semi-violent shivering had dissolved into few and far between shudders. Elsa crawled onto the bed from the other side and knelt down behind Anna. Conveniently, Anna was wearing a button down night shirt and a long skirt instead of a nightgown. Anna lifted up the back of her shirt, balancing the scrunched fabric on her shoulders, and didn't say a word, not exactly knowing what to say to her sister anyway.

Elsa's icy hands felt like heaven on Anna's warm, feverish back. She might have been so nauseous that she was slightly delirious, but she could've sworn she heard them sizzle.

"You're not going to melt or anything, are you?" she asked groggily.

"No, of course not," Elsa giggled. She paused for a few moments. "So does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" she asked cautiously.

Anna thought for what felt to Elsa like an eternity. "No, I'm still mad," she answered hesitantly. "I'm just too close to death to show it." She leaned farther forward and put her hands over her face, trying to add a small amount of humor to her statement. Elsa didn't say anything. "Elsa, listen…" she said, sitting back up.

"No, Anna, it's fine. I understand. It was silly of me to even ask."

"It wasn't silly, Elsa. And actually, well, it's uh, it's just… about Kristoff. I-" She stopped. "Ah!" She lurched forward, wincing in pain and starting to convulse again.

"Anna!" Elsa said, sitting up on her knees a little higher and placing her hands on Anna's shoulders.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, still hunched over. "Ow. Ooh…"

"You're not going to throw up, are you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. It's gone now, it comes and goes," Anna explained. Her shaking subsided.

"Anna, maybe I should send for the doctor."

"No, don't. It's the middle of the night, he wouldn't come. Besides, it's just a stomach ache. I just ate too much today, that's all."

Elsa didn't say anything for a few seconds. She relaxed back into how she had been sitting. "Well what'd you do that for?"

"I don't know. Probably because I was upset."

"Oh," Elsa said, dejected. "Look Anna, I'm sorry. I really-" Elsa saw the faint outline of Anna raising her arm, motioning for her give it a rest.

"Don't worry about it," she said. Elsa sighed and continued trying to make her sister feel better. She moved her hands in circles on Anna's back in a comforting rhythm. The two girls were quiet for a long time. "I heard it all happen, Elsa," Anna finally said.

"What?"

Anna sighed. "Your episode earlier. I heard it all happen."

"Oh," Elsa said, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah." Anna paused. "Elsa, I'm sorry. I really should have-"

"It's not your fault, Anna," Elsa said, getting a little nervous, causing her to break the rhythm.

"I really should have been there," Anna blurted.

Elsa was surprised, and took a second to answer. "Wait, what?"

"I should have been there for you. I should have made sure you were okay. But instead, here I was, wallowing in self-pity and pretending to be mad at you."

"Anna… wait, pretending?"

"I don't know exactly what was going on, well I kind of do because Callan told me. But anyway, I know you must have been going through a lot more, seeing as how it was happening to you, but I can't even describe how horrible it _sounded_. I was so worried. I can't believe I didn't swallow my stupid, good for nothing pride and just go be there for you."

"Anna, it's okay."

"No, it's not! It is not okay that you were hurting, and losing control of your powers, and I was in here listening to all of it happen, when in actuality I wanted nothing more than to go make sure my big sister was okay!"

Elsa was silent. After a few seconds, she resumed her circular rhythm on Anna's back, hoping that it would bring the girl some level of assurance and comfort.

"I should have been there for you, Elsa, no matter what. And I wanted to be, I just don't know why I wasn't. I'm so sorry," Anna sniffled.

Elsa could feel Anna's back rising and falling more inconsistently, now trying to balance her breathing and the small sobs that were escaping. "Anna, no, don't cry."

"I'm so sorry, Elsa," Anna repeated, now in a full-fledged bawl.

"Don't be. You don't have to be," Elsa said, trying to calm her little sister down.

"You don't get it, Elsa!"

"I don't get it? What do I not get, Anna? Explain it to me."

"I can't! I can barely explain it to myself! I just…" She paused. "I don't like fighting with you. I don't like being mad at you. I love you, and I just want my sister back. I feel as if I missed the chance to tell you when I didn't go check on you earlier. I just want this all to be over," she continued. She brought her hands up to her face.

Elsa sighed, and stopped rubbing Anna's back for a moment. "I want this all to be over too, Anna. You don't know how much it hurts to have someone you care about so much not want a single thing to do with you."

"That's the thing!" Anna said. "I didn't know how much you were hurting. I was so focused on how much I was hurting, and how angry I was at you and Kristoff, that I didn't think for a second how you were feeling. That was wrong of me, and I'm sorry."

"Anna don't be sorry. Your actions were justifiable. Like you said, you were hurting, and you were angry at me. It's okay to be angry at me for what I did. Heck, _I'm_ angry at myself for what I did. So you see? It's okay. I understand."

Anna sniveled. "Just because you understand, doesn't mean it was the right thing to do," she said, much calmer. "Besides, I'm not really mad at you anymore. I forgive you."

Elsa was taken aback, not expecting that at all. "What?"

"I forgive you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Anna chuckled. "Why would you say that? Don't you want me to forgive you?"

"Of course I do, Anna. But only because I deserve it. I don't want you to say you forgive me in the spur of some moment, or because you're sick and delirious, only to take it back later when you're in your right mind."

"And just what do you mean by that? I'm not delirious, and I'm totally in my right mind! It's a stomach ache Elsa, not head trauma. I know what I'm saying." Anna said, almost a certain level of cheerful now.

"Well, okay. I mean, if you say so," Elsa said, resuming her makeshift massage. "But if I may ask, why?"

Anna thought for a moment. "I just don't think it was really you I was ever mad at."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, once I really thought about it, at the end of the day, I've been more angry with Kristoff. I never expected anything like this from him. Hans, sure. But Kristoff? The same Kristoff who tried his hardest to come running to my rescue and save the day? I never saw it coming. And it hit me twice as hard. And now, I'm double mad at him for whatever it is that he did to set you off like that. It's bad enough he hurt me, but when Callan told me that he hurt you too…"

"He didn't exactly hurt me, Anna."

Anna was quiet, waiting for Elsa to elaborate. But it took Elsa a long while to gather up the courage to.

"He told me he loves me." Elsa felt Anna's back muscles twinge, leading her to figure out how shocked she was by the statement, although the tone of her voice betrayed it.

"Oh." Another long pause. "And… what did you say?"

"Well," Elsa began. "The way he talked, he was telling me to choose between you and him. He said things like, 'I can't play these games anymore.' and 'You keep going back and forth between Anna and I.' He told me that he loves me, then he told me to think about whether or not I might love him too. Then he told me to let him know when I made my decision."

"And what did you say?" Anna repeated, trying her best to hide not only her irritation with Kristoff, but also her uneasiness over how Elsa answered him.

"I chose you."

Anna's breath hitched, and she felt her heart drop ever so slightly at her sister's words. She remembered what she had thought of on her way to Elsa's room. That when it came down to it, Anna chose Elsa. And now, Elsa chose her. "Elsa…" she said.

Elsa didn't reply, she just kept rhythmically moving her hands in circles on Anna's back.

"Well… how is it that you feel?" Anna asked after some time.

"About what?

"Kristoff."

Anna's question caught her off guard. But she answered the best she could. "Angry," she said. "That's why my whole incident earlier even happened. I'm angry with him. He threw that choice at me, knowing how much I already had on my plate. It made me so mad, and so confused, and I just lost it. That's all."

"Uh, okay, but I meant how is it that you feel as in, do you love him back?" Anna asked.

"That doesn't matter."

"But do you?"

"It doesn't matter, Anna," Elsa said. She lowered the temperature of her hands, causing a thin layer of frost to form on Anna's back, then immediately melt.

"Hey! That's cold!" Anna said, snapping to an upright sitting position and scrunching her shoulders up to her neck. "And of course it matters. Why would you think it wouldn't?"

"Because, like I said, I chose you. How I feel about Kristoff is irrelevant."

"No it's not," Anna said. "Elsa, if you love him too, it's… it's okay," she continued relatively hesitantly.

Elsa tensed up and stopped what she was doing. She even held her breath for a couple of seconds. "What? No. No, it's not. I can't love him, it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"You _do_ love him, don't you?" Anna asked. Elsa sighed. "Look," Anna went on. "It's alright, Elsa. Don't worry about me. If you love him, you love him. That's how it is, and it's okay."

"Yes, Anna, I love him. There, I said it," Elsa confirmed after a few tense seconds. "But I love you too. And I'd rather lose him than you by a long shot. He was just my significant other. But you're my little sister, my only family, and my best friend," said Elsa. "He told me to choose, and I did."

"Well why do you think he told you to choose?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. Probably because he thought I'd choose him, and that would somehow solve all of out problems."

"Maybe he told you to choose because he thought it would be best for you."

"Why on Earth would he think that?"

Anna thought for a moment. "Who knows. He's a boy, and boys think silly things sometimes."

Elsa laughed. "Yeah, they do." She thought for a second. "But you do have a point. Maybe he thought if I could just focus on one of you, things would be easier for me."

"See? He was just looking out for you."

"Anna, why are you defending him?" Elsa asked with a laugh. "After all, you did just say how angry you are with him. You have every right to be. You don't have to talk him up for my sake."

Anna shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, you're right, I'm angry with him. He really hurt me, and I don't want anything to do with him anymore. But that doesn't mean that he's not a good guy."

"Um, it kind of does," Elsa commented.

"Whatever," Anna continued without missing a beat. "What I mean is, just because things didn't work out between him and I, doesn't mean they won't for you two. He's a nice guy, a good catch, as much as I hate to admit it. You deserve him."

"I deserve him? What's what supposed to mean?"

"You deserve love, Elsa. You deserve to find love and to be happy after all you've been through."

"And you think you don't?"

"This isn't about me." said Anna. She sighed, and slouched a little. "What I've been trying to say is, if you love him, and you want to be with him, it's okay with me. I care about you far more than I care about him, and if being with him would make you happy, I won't be selfish. I won't be mad anymore. Not with you, anyway."

"Well thank you for saying that Anna, but it just doesn't seem right to me. Something would feel wrong if I ended up making up with you _and_ staying with Kristoff."

Anna yawned. "Nothing would be wrong, Elsa. I'm telling you, it's okay."

Elsa paused, still unsure. But she decided to give the matter a rest for the night. "How are you feeling? How's your stomach?"

"Better," Anna said. "Still a little uneasy, but not nearly as crampy and twisty."

"Twisty?" Elsa giggled. "Well I'm glad you're feeling better."

Anna smiled at the sound of her sister's soft laughter, then chuckled herself. "Yes, twisty. It's the only way I could think to describe it." She took a deep breath, and realized how heavy her eyes were getting. "Elsa?" she yawned.

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

Elsa smiled. "Of course." She was still rubbing Anna's back, for whatever reason. It seemed to not only relax Anna, but herself, too. "I should be thanking you, for sitting down and talking about all of this with me. I'm so glad we're not fighting anymore."

"Me too," Anna said. She yawned again, and this time, Elsa yawned in return. Anna picked up her water glass. "Water?" she offered.

"Ew, no, I don't want your sick person water," Elsa said with fake disgust.

"Sick person water?" Anna said, trying to sound angry. But she couldn't help but laugh. "I'll show you sick person water." She turned around and blew a raspberry in her sister's face.

"Hey!" Elsa shouted, leaning back as far as she could, ultimately falling on her back. She was laughing as she wiped her face off the best she could. Anna, who was still laughing too, crawled onto the bed and plopped down beside her sister. After a couple minutes, the laughter died down and the girls relaxed.

They remained there in silence, and after some time, they both eventually curled up and fell asleep.

Once again everything was still, and quiet, and it stayed like that for what was left of the night.


End file.
